Comments from the Fringe

The wake of 9/11

2007-06-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

I found another blog, the Title of Liberty. What a cool site. The author, Kevin, declares his angst that he has become a 9/11 skeptic. Boy can I relate. Here's a link to the page: http://titleofliberty.typepad.com/ttol/2006/09/in_memoriam.html#comment-73202690.

I repost some of my reply to his blog...

The Title of Liberty (a banner reminding us that the rights and liberties of man flow from God and deserve our valiant efforts to protect.) never needed to be raised as much as it does now! Pahoran's patriotic answer rings through the ages: "let us resist evil, and whatsoever evil we can not resist with our words, such as rebellions AND dissensions, let us resist with our swords, that we may retain our freedom..." Book of Mormon, Alma 61:14

We wage a war now on many fronts. We wage it with our "swords" in the Mid-East against a weapon, "radical Islam" that has been trained and fired against us. We wage with our words here against our countrymen who would turn our country into a socialist state. (And have virtually succeeded in doing so.) We wage a war of words against a media that is no longer an instrument for truthfully reporting events but a propaganda arm of some entity that seeks also to overthrow our liberties.

Now is not the time to cede the battlefield to the enemy. Now is the time to stand against an innumerable host of the foe with faith, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. Bible, 2 Kings 6:16

Vacation Time!

2007-06-05T22:04:00.000-07:00

We own a timeshare at a ski resort near here. (The joys of living in Utah!) We spent a week up in the mountains enjoying clear blue skies, pine trees, glorious sunlight and mountain streams and rivers. My favorite times were walking through the trees hand in hand with my wife of 21 years. Can it be that long?? For those who wonder... marriage has been the hardest thing I've ever done and continue to do. The hard part is stepping into the traces every day and working for my family. But when I get moments to hold my wife's hand or play hide and seek with my children or get letters from my son... it makes up for it.

For those of you who wonder... families are worth the sacrifice of time and sweat and tears. Think of it as an investment with unlimited growth opportunities.

Of Darkness and Hope

2007-05-10T06:37:00.000-07:00

I've been reading a lot here: http://www.journalof911studies.com about the 9/11 attack. I'm left with the conclusion that we have been duped into waging a war in Afghanistan and Iraq against people, who may not have liked us, but certainly had no means to attack us as occured that fateful day. If you think me crazy, go to the site and read for yourself. Before I did, I passionately disagreed with those who thought the Trade Center towers were not destroyed by the airliners. That is not the case now.

Once you cross that Rubicon, you choose a path that leads to the disturbing realization that Americans (or at least people who bare US Passports and birth certificates) have murdered thousands of of their countrymen in an attempt to get the rest of us to support their selfish aims: aims which they have draped in the folds of our flag.

Like I said, you may think me crazy. But when you look at facts and draw conclusions from what the facts present you must either be honest with yourself and make decisions based upon those conclusions or live in denial and pretend that they don't exist. You must choose for yourself, but as for myself, I desire to see the world as it really is, even when it's not the world I wished it were.

The only hope I draw from this is that I know virtually all American's would be outraged at those who caused this atrocity, especially if it were their own country men. And I take great hope in my faith that there is a God who presides over the affairs of men and that He supports those who stand up for truth and justice. He may let wicked men prove their wickedness to the world, but His justice is inescapable. Those who caused this will ultimately pay for what they did.

The Evolutionists' Dilema

2007-05-01T11:12:00.000-07:00

I've a couple of questions for all those who claim evolution is the only rational explanation for man's presence on this planet.

First, how does evolution even work within the context of the laws of thermodynamics, particularly entropy? Think about it: in very simple terms, entropy states that the universe is gradually decaying from a universe of great order to a universe of totaly random chaos with everything being the same temperature. Evolution flies in the face of this by saying that of all the processes we know, the most complex process of all, life, started by itself and increased its order and complexity through purely random events. The realitiy is, both processes are mutually exclusive: either random things change from more order to less order (entropy) or they change from less order to more order (evolution) or random changes have no net effect over time because all of the random permutations cancel each other out.

Secondly, if we really are the result of random changes alone and that survival of the fitest is the sole key in determining which species lives on and which one dies out. Why don't we now live forever or much longer than we do with the bodies we have? It would seem that those who live longest would reproduce the most and thereby edge out those who don't reproduce as long. But that hasn't happened. Why?

Bottom line: entropy is an observed and well proven law. The universe is decaying to a state of totaly random and homogenous chaos. It is losing its order. But, it is perfectly reasonable to see how a creative force outside of the universe (God) created life that could exist and even thrive within this context of decay. No other paradigm about how life came to be makes sense.

Sound board Stuff

2007-04-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

We have a family band. You can check it out at: www.thecluffs.net. I don't play an instrument: I write the checks and do sound. When I watch my family perform on a stage and recieve the applause that they get it brings a sense of pride and satisfaction that has to be experienced to be appreciated. All and all, it's an equitable arrangement.

I've recently learned how to set up a sound board where the sound is really good. So, in the interest of passing on some of that goodness to you out there, I offer Ken's 10 rules to running good sound for a show:

1. Tune the monitors first. The monitors should be loud enough in small venues that we typically play in that they could carry the show... almost.
2. Aim the monitors, especially when there’s a reflective surface, like a wall behind the performers, so that the sound from the monitors scatters away from the microphones. That will allow you to push the monitors much louder than you can otherwise.
3. You need to trim the sound for the monitors/musicians differently than how you trim it for the house.
4. The trim lights on the gain should blink just occassionally. If they blink a lot or they are on solid, the gain is to high. If they never blink... it’s to low.
5. Set the main mix and monitor mix to unity. Trim the channel feeds to control the volumn that goes out the main/monitors.
6. Channel EQ is for fixing up a performer’s voice or the audio signature of an instrument.
7. The main EQ is for adjusting the mix to the accoustics of the house and the speakers.
8. You adjust the EQ using a set of monitor headphones and the PFL
9. You adjust the mainEQ with your ears listening to the sound.
10. Mute any mike that isn’t being used.

Here's a bonus rule... :)

11. Typically you also use EQ to control feedback, provided your EQ bank can hit the frequency range in which the feedback is occurring without taking the surrounding frequencies out in the process.

Where to begin!??

2007-04-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

So many issues, so many decisions. I feel like the little Dutch boy staring at a dike that is leaking like a sieve and wondering... "Where do I start? Which is the worst leak that needs the most attention now?"

Our government today is a constitutional republic in name only. In reality, we are a classic Greek democracy. And if you don't understand why that's a problem...then you are victim of the next two problems.

As I see it, the best control on government behavior is an educated, informed and civic-virtue minded populace. We have very few people like that today. The majority of American's today are neither well educated nor well informed nor civic minded. They tend to look upon those who are as modern Don Quixote's.

That brings up another major problem: the public education industry in America today is not designed to produce well educated, civic-minded people, let alone people who want to know what their government is up to. Schools today are designed to produce children who are comfortable living under the chains of socialism and content to hold menial hourly-wage type of jobs making someone else rich. (To all you public school teachers out there...I'm not talking about you, but the system you work within. There is a huge difference... more on that in a future post.)

This wouldn't be such a grave problem if it weren't for the fact that so many checks on government misbehavior have also been removed from the Constitution! We have judges legislating from the bench in a direct usurpation of power. We have the president likewise usurping power and legislating by executive fiat. We have the bureaucracy legislating simply because it can. We have a Congress that is so self-absorbed in making enough money to run for office it doesn't care about these ills. And, as mentioned in an earlier post, a major structural check on spending has been removed as a consequence of passage of the 16th and 17th amendments.

And lastly, we have a news industry today that regularly lies to the American people. The guardian of our liberties, the free press, has been co-opted into an entity that now works to undermine those very liberties the Founder's thought it would protect.

Despite this, I am not discouraged nor dismayed. I am convinced that God does have a hand in the affairs of our nation. He wont do our job for us. But those who commit themselves to the work at hand, will receive his help. And for that reason alone, I'm confident that things can be changed for the better.

That's good ... That's bad

2007-04-05T06:19:00.000-07:00

In homage to a comic skit I saw as a child on the TV Show "Hee Haw" I present...

Joe says to Harry, "Hey, Harry did you hear that Becky's iBook died last week?"
Joe: "Oh, that's pretty bad. How's Shawn gonna get his schoolwork done? That is bad."
Harry: "No, that's good. They needed a newer notebook anyway, so they went out and bought themselves a brand spankin' new MacBook and they gave their notebook to their dad."
Joe: "Oh, that is good!"
Harry: "No, that's bad. The iBook was still busted and not much more useful than a big paper weight."
Joe: "Yep, that's bad. So now their Dad is stuck with this busted notebook."
Harry: "No, that's good, their Dad got on the Internet and learnt how to fix the darn thing. And he fixed it, so now it works!"
Joe: "That is good. He's always wanted a mac notebook."
Harry: "No that's bad, his wife don't like him playin' on the Internet, especially with them thar macs. So he's gonna sell it on ebay."
Joe: "That's pretty bad, can't have the missus mad at ye. To bad he's gotta sell that thar iBook."
Harry: "No, that's good. He figured, he can get near $350 for the thing."
Joe: "$350! That is good. He'll be able to spend all that money on somethin for his missus."
Harry: "No, that's bad, he's gonna buy two more busted iBooks. Said the spirit told him to do it."
Joe: "Yep, that's bad, 'specially listenin' to spirits. I knows which spirits he was listenin' to and it wasn't the ones ye hear, but the ones ye drink!"
Harry: "No, that's good. He's gonna fix them too. He figures he can make about $200 per machine that way and by'n'by will get himself a new sprinkler system, a new computer fer himself and a serger fer his wife. And so, she's happy."

Our Serious Condition...

2007-03-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

The United States of America is no longer founded upon nor governed according to the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence nor enumerated in the Constitution. The problem is worse than just the government having abandoned and trampled upon the principles defined by those two documents: the populace at large has abandoned the civic virtue and integrity that must exist for a free country to endure.

John Adams said "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Ben Franklin issued an equally dire warning to that effect: "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."

Sadly, our condition today accurately reflects the degenerate nature of our national character and the aggregate absence of virtue from the people. Before we can right our government, we must first right ourselves.

Before we can reclaim our liberties, we must personally reclaim our civic virtue. And before we can reclaim our civic virtue, we must reclaim our faith in God. We would to well to consider the comment by General Douglas MacArthur: "History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster."

Running Against the Wind

2007-03-22T04:13:00.000-07:00

Running is easy
When you run with the wind:
Your steps go further,
And your muscles hurt less.

And a wind you can't feel
When you're there just standing,
Blows like a gale
When against it you're running:

It shortens your steps;
It tears at your face.
And distances easily covered,
With the wind,
Are marathons indeed,
Running against the wind.

But the wind never cares,
No matter what you do.
It is what it is:
... it just blows.

When you run with the wind:
The wind does the work,
Your muscles wont grow,
Nor your heart get as strong...

So don't fret and pine
Nor slacken your pace
When the course you've chosen
Puts the wind in your face.

For it's the muscle, not the miles
That in life really matter.
And muscles are stronger
And accomplishments greater...
When acquired by
Running against the wind.

Reigning in the National Government... the right way

2007-03-20T13:21:00.000-07:00

I read an opinion piece Gary Andres the Washington Times commenting on the fact that people in this country want more state control of the services the "Government" provides to the people. "Power to the people"

He offered polling data that shows there is a significant fraction of the country that want the National government's power dilluted if not returned to the states. It didn't mention how that would happen however. That's where this blog takes off...

There's only one real lasting solution: change the government structure so politicians can say "No" to creating government agencies without committing political suicide. Otherwise, whenever a pet project gets cancelled the Representative or Senator has to run for cover or face the wrath of the special interest group who's ox he gored. This ability to say "no" must also be balanced by keeping the government responsive to the collective will of the people. We don't want a government that runs roughshod over our rights, although a strong case can be made that, that is what's happening now...

So, how to do this balancing act? It's easy to say, but it'll be very hard to do. Repleal the 16th AND 17th Amendments. That's all. "How will that work?" you ask. This is how...

The 16th Amendment allows the national government to tax the incomes of the electorate directly. Repealing this amendment will force the government to do it the way it did for 120 some odd years, by getting the money from the states and forcing the states to raise the money. This puts the level of "fund raising" at the state level. Which is one level closer to the people. But this alone isn't enough.

If this is all that happened, the national government would be free of the onerous task of raising the money it spends. Spending would spiral out of control much faster than it is now. That's where the second step comes into play: repealing the 17th Amendment.

This amendment changed to constituency of Senators from state governments to the people at large of the state, a role that was prescribed in the Constitution to be done by the House of Representatives. It in effect turned them into Congressmen with six-year terms of office. But with the Senators beholden to the states they are insulated from the wrath of the electorate and can make the tough decision without fear of direct electoral reprisals.

Since just the states will have the task of raising money for the national government, they will feel the wrath of the electorate for the taxes they must enact to raise their portion of the federal budget. Fear of this wrath will be the wellspring of an enormous incentive to the Senator to say "No" to spending bills: He keeps his job only if he says no to spending so the states don't have to raise so much money and therefore can themselves stay in office longer than a couple of terms. It also gives sufficient political cover to the Senator to survive saying "no." Members of the House of Representatives can point a finger at those "stingy" Senators for the failure of a spending bill to pass and the Senators can take comfort in knowing that their constituency, the state government is happy with them for doing so.

Consequently, an environment where fiscal sanity can exist at the national level and equally importantly, States will have a much bigger voice in the operation of the national government.

Come on, Apple!!

2007-03-19T21:05:00.000-07:00

I've had my eye on a new Mac mini, but I've been waiting for Apple to update the machine (hopefully with a Core 2 Duo and a better graphics sub-system). Actually, I've often thought a sweet spot for geeks would be a "Midi" that has a single slot for a video board and a 3.5" drive bay and a case that's easy to open. If they built the machine like they did with the Intel Mini's so the CPU could be swapped out, I think they'd have a gamer's dream machine. (In the Mini's the CPU's not soldered in place like it is in the MacBooks and MacBookPro's.)

Ah, but what do I know. I'm just a software developer. The current boxes are so fast, even a Mini is overkill when it comes to web and application development. Now, if I were in the Windows world... different story. (Different post too.)

I guess I could always buy a Mini, yank the innards out of the case and drop it into a larger, more mod-worthy case, but you still can't do the video card upgrades that way...

Come on, Apple, throw us geeks a bone!! :)

The True Benefits of Social Security

2007-03-16T05:47:00.000-07:00

Me and spreadsheets are really tight. I like doing random "what ifs" everynow and then with them just to see how things are really going. "Do I really save money buying a new fuel efficient car compared to keeping my older, paid-for car?" Those kind of questions... Well, I was doing a "what if" exercise last night about Social Security and came up with some rather interesting information.

The question: "Which pays more, Social Security or your own personal retirment account?"

The rules: You earn $9.00/hour. You work 40 hours a week with paid vacations. You're 21 years old and you'll retire when you're 68. Throughout your career, you'll never make more than 9.00/hour. Inflation is not taken into account in any of these numbers.

In scenario A, the money you and your employer would have paid into Social Security, and Medicare etc. would be paid instead into an investment account that returns five percent per year, compounded monthly. These are not unreasonable numbers, by the way. Many investment portfolios beat those numbers consistently.

In scenario B, the money is paid into Social Security as it is now.

The monthly payout:
Scenario A: $2,200.
Scenario B: $964.

The details:
Scenario A, You'll have accumulated more than 500,000 dollars. Your monthly payout is just the interest off of that money. Meaning, you'll have that money until you die.
Scenario B, you'll have accumulated nothing. The money the government gives you will be taken from two other people's monthly wages.

Where would you rather be?

Of News Media and Politicians

2007-03-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

Judging from the firestorm of news reports swirling around the President, he made a huge mistake regarding the Department of Justice's firing of eight U.S. Attorneys. In reality, he made only one mistake.

His "mistake"? He talked to the wrong people. Instead of talking to his staff, he should've talked to Bill Clinton and his wife, the junior Senator from New York.

Why them of all people? Because in 1993, then-President Clinton with input from his wife sacked ALL of the U.S. Attorneys for purely personal and political reasons and got a pass from the media...

Paycheck Days

2007-03-15T07:16:00.000-07:00

I have eight children: seven daughters and one son. My son is in the "fourth" position in the family. When I describe the effect raising such a large family has had on me, my answer is: My receding hairline was caused by the three older girls. The silvering temples is caused by the next two children. And the wrinkles around the eyes and the wholesale migration of hair from my head is caused by the youngest three girls. In response, people usually politely chuckle. It makes for a pleasant way to introduce, eight, in my very subjective opinion, very remarkable people whom I've had the opportunity to know and care for.

In reality, raising children is the toughest job around. There's no vacation. If you're fortunate you have a spouse to help you. (It's usually us vs. them and there are more of them!) No two children are the same. They all want things, different things no less, at the same time and they are eternally insistent. I've never met such strong willed people as my children. It is emotionally, physically and financially taxing to raise children. But...

There are days, when the paycheck comes for all your work. It's those moments of glory when your children show you that all your blood, sweat and tears are not in vain. I got one from my son yesterday. It was in a letter that showed by its contents that he's changed from the self-absorbed teen-ager that he was, into a mature young man. Those moments, rare though they are, make all the rest worth the effort.

My Life as a Father

2006-02-27T21:33:00.000-08:00

People ask me, what do I do for a living? My answer: I'm a father, that's my living. I sell a lot of my time to a company to pay for all the things I'm obligated to pay for as a father, but I'm a father first of all.
I've always wanted to write stories. But I wanted to write Science Fiction because space ships and traveling to the stars and all the technology was so cool! But, I've found that what people enjoy most and connect to most are stories of hearth and home because that's where we really spend most of our time. For most of us, that's where our hearts lie: at home.
So, I'm changing things a bit: I'm going to write about my experiences as a dad. Some stories will be trivial perhaps, but it's all relevant to me. Maybe it'll be relevant to you too.
I have a fairly large family: eight children. Seven girls, one son. Now, I also have two grand daughters, two son's in law and one fiance`. In a couple of weeks, I'll have three son's in law. Is it a busy time at our place right now? You bet!

The Value of Christianity to Society

2006-02-09T06:45:00.000-08:00

The Western World is abandoning Christianity and its antecedent Judaism. The image of this activity can be likened to a man who while climbing up a mountain face, chooses to abandon his safety rope so he can free climb to the top of the cliff. The predicament he's in is the level of expertise required to safely climb the cliff face he is on far exceeds his capacity as a climber. Yet, because he feels the rope is too confining, he disconnects himself from the rope to experience the true freedom of being out there on the mountain face. He regards the rope with disdain and anger because it is to old fashioned and constraining and out of sync with his enlightened view of things.

But all to soon, he'll lose his footing and fall. Oblivious to the waiting rocks beneath him, he'll continue to hold in derision those he falls past and tell them what fools they are for their old fashioned beliefs. Only at the last moment, when death is upon him will he see his folly, but it will be everlastingly to late.

As a society, if we don't return to our roots and values, like that climber we'll be caught up in catastrophe. We must work to convince others to grab on to the safety line. For if we can get enough individuals to hang on, society will hang on too.

For this parable applies to not only our society but us as individuals. The sad fact is that those who let go of their faith are the ones who'll be destroyed by the rocks they fall upon. Those who survive will be the ones who don't let go but cling to the rope for their lives. That doesn't mean our faith will save us if catastrophe comes to our society, it does mean that when it comes, those who never let go will be the only ones strong enough to survive.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather not fall. Nor do I want society to fall. America is the best place in the world to live. The principles of Judeo-Christianity have made it that way. I want it to continue...

Just Getting Started

2006-02-08T09:58:00.000-08:00

Hi, I'm Ken. I'm a computer programmer. I'm vegetarian. A flaming Constitutional Conservative -- go strict constructionists! And very much an aspiring Christian. ( I'm not perfect, but I keep trying. ) This is a place where I intend share my opinions on current and local events. First up... Why I like programming on a Mac over Windows....