Men, This May Save Your Life Someday

There are ways to get around learning how to tie a tie properly. (In college, I'd find a motherly type at church and beg for help - always made them smile.) But every man should eventually learn how to tie their own tie. This handy-dandy chart is the best illustration I have seen. Save this on your own machine, and keep it around for that formal emergency!

(This is not my own invention. Found it online and am not sure how to get back to where I found it. If it's yours, let me know and I'll give full attribution. In the meantime, it is too valuable NOT to share!)

Do you have a "Go Bag" ready?

The disasters in New Zealand, Haiti, and Japan should remind us that disaster specialists recommend every person have a "Go Bag" ready to go at all times. A "Go Bag" is a suitcase packed with the essentials you might need if you had to leave your home suddenly in an emergency, including clothes, emergency supplies, and any information you may need to survive (i.e. contact numbers, photos of loved ones).

If you haven't taken the time. There is no time like the present.

A component of your disaster kit is your Go-bag. Put the following items together in a backpack or another easy to carry container in case you must evacuate quickly. Prepare one Go-bag for each family member and make sure each has an I.D. tag.

• Flashlight
• Radio – battery operated
• Batteries
• Whistle
• Dust mask
• Pocket knife
• Emergency cash in small denominations and quarters for phone calls
• Sturdy shoes, a change of clothes, and a warm hat
• Local map...

For my friends, who like banana on their cereal...

The Process of Choosing a Candidate

I suppose this article is about 6 months late in coming. But watching the outgoing George W. Bush and the incoming Barack Obama, it has become more and more clear to me that it is nearly impossible to get the measure of a man while he is campaigning. George W. Bush was one man before 9/11, and a completely different man after 9/11. Pre-9/11 GWB would have been horrified to see some of the abridgments of personal liberty and extreme extension of government power that Post-9/11 GWB embraced and now defends as the finest accomplishments of his presidency. Pre-9/11 GWB saw tax cuts and government reductions as job 1. Post-9/11 GWB saw tax cuts as an engine to drive the economy, to allow government expansions which was really job 1. Pre-9/11 GWB was focused on social themes - education, faith-based initiatives - while Post-9/11 GWB saw social themes as an afterthought.

But how was it possible to see a Post-9/11 GWB while Pre-9/11 GWB was running?

We see the same thing now. I am not a supporter of Barack Obama's policies (though I do see him as a man riding the wave of history, whose time has come) but during the campaign he ran on getting us out of Iraq ASAP. Now, he is talking about doing the draw-down in line with GWB policies - 16 months or more. Obama ran on "changing government" but is now hiring the only people qualified to fill his posts - Clinton and Bush officials who are anything BUT "change". Pre-election BO and post-election BO are turning out to be two different men.

So the question is, HOW DO WE REALLY CHOOSE A CANDIDATE? We have known since before Mark Twain that you can never trust what a politician says. Since the advent of television and special effects, we can't even trust what we see a politician looking like. Make-up, double-talk, and special effects can lie convincingly in our day and age as never before. So, how do we really get down to the core of a candidate and understand who he/she is and how s/he will govern?

I am open to your thoughts on the subject. I am struggling with my own now.