RetrophischI have lived, sir, a long time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?
May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us in all our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.
—George Washington, letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, 1790
A prayer for all of us.
Quality of LSU wins unprecedented – SEC Blog – ESPN
“If the Tigers win the BCS Championship, it might not be fair to call this the best team of all time, but it might be the most tested team of all-time.”
I think it’s totally fair for the most tested team of all-time, should they win the national championship, to be declared the best team of all time. And yes, I say this from a totally biased standpoint.
Fliers Still Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why – NYTimes.com
“According to the F.A.A., 712 million passengers flew within the United States in 2010. Let’s assume that just 1 percent of those passengers — about two people per Boeing 737, a conservative number — left a cellphone, e-reader or laptop turned on during takeoff or landing. That would mean seven million people on 11 million flights endangered the lives of their fellow passengers.
"Yet, in 2010, no crashes were attributed to people using technology on a plane. None were in 2009. Or 2008, 2007 and so on. You get the point.
"Surely if electronic gadgets could bring down an airplane, you can be sure that the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, which has a consuming fear of 3.5 ounces of hand lotion and gel shoe inserts, wouldn’t allow passengers to board a plane with an iPad or Kindle, for fear that they would be used by terrorists.”
And to add insult to injury: you can’t use your iPad during takeoff and landing, but United’s issuing iPads with flight procedures, manuals, and maps to its pilots.
Introducing Nathaniel Pierre Turner on Flickr.
So I’m a few days late in posting this here, but here’s the new addition to our family. Getting his court ruling cleared and permission from the nuns to keep him overnight until, well, pretty much forever, since once the final paperwork clears, we don’t need anyone’s permission for that, pretty much made this year’s Thanksgiving the best ever.
Nathaniel was born April 1, 2011, and is seven months old in this photo. Pierre is what the nuns at the Home of Hope Orphanage named him, and is what will be his legal name on all of his Rwandan documentation, including his passport.
Hunting With SEALs | Karl Rove
“Some warn that America’s freedom, like all things human, may crumble into dust. The reason it doesn’t is because in times of trial our country produces men and women of courage and fortitude, honor and sacrifice. Which is another way of saying America produces self-effacing heroes like last weekend’s hunting companions.”
Season ticket holders unfurl the flag on Flickr.
This is my favorite photo of the entire 2011 ALCS Game 1 set. I just love how the sky looks, the way the Ballpark’s lit, the Texas-sized flag in the outfield. Baseball, mom, and apple pie. Darn tootin’.
Musab al-Zarqawi, Osama bin Laden’s handpicked deputy in Iraq, had killed thousands of people in an attempt to send the world back to the sixth century. In a fitting bit of irony, two operators from SEAL Team Six had killed him with an invisible laser beam and a flying robot.
Perspective
Alabama State Champs 2011
While I love a good game day shirt, I’ve never been in the habit of acquiring “victory” shirts. But I have to admit, this one gave me a chuckle.