100 Items to Disappear First in A Panic

I'm LDS so don't use coffee, tea, alcoholic beverages, or smoking tobacco, but have included the entire list as it was composed by the author. At least as far as I can tell.

With food shortages starting to come, and with many members of the Church starting to wake up to the seriousness of our situation, now is a good time to review a list of the 100 most important items to begin now to hoard (don't you just love the images that word elicits?).

100 Items to Disappear First in A Panic
By Joseph Almond

The original list can be found here and included this paragraph:

This list was originally prepared for Y2K, but it is still relevant, especially considering our current economic situation. (And let me interject here that I did nothing for Y2K except fill the bathtub with water, and sit around on the internet watching to see what happened in Australia when 12:00am rolled over. When it appeared they were ok, I went to bed and slept soundly! Our current situation, however, has alarmed me beyond anything I’ve experienced thus far. I urge you to prepare for a spike in inflation at the very least - whatever you can stock for your family now will help you down the road later.)

1. Generators (Good ones cost dearly. Gas storage, risky. Noisy...target of thieves; maintenance, etc.)
   
2. Water Filters/Purifiers (Shipping delays increasing.)
   
3. Portable Toilets (Increasing in price every two months.)
   
4. Seasoned Firewood (About $100 per cord; wood takes 6 - 12 mos. to become dried, for home uses.)
   
5. Lamp Oil, Wicks, Lamps (First choice: Buy CLEAR oil. If scarce, stockpile ANY!)
   
6. Coleman Fuel (URGENT $2.69-$3.99/gal. Impossible to stockpile too much.)
   
7. Guns, Ammunition, Pepper Spray, Knives, Clubs, Bats, Slingshots, etc.
   
8. Hand-Can openers & hand egg beaters, whisks (Life savers!)
   
9. Honey/Syrups/white, brown sugars
   
10. Rice - Beans - Wheat (White rice is now $12.95 - 50# bag. Sam's Club, stock depleted often.)
    
11. Vegetable oil (for cooking, also can be used for lighting using cotton wicks.) (ESSENTIAL: We need the oil for our hormones and organs to work properly)
    
12. Charcoal & Lighter fluid (Will become scarce suddenly.)
    
13. Water containers (Urgent Item to obtain. Any size. Small: HARD CLEAR PLASTIC ONLY)
    
14. Mini Heater head (Propane) (Without this item, propane won't heat a room.)
    
15. Grain Grinder (Non-electric)
    
16. Propane Cylinders
    
17. Michael Hyatt's Y2K Survival Guide (BEST single y2k handbook for sound advice/tips.)
    
18. Mantles: Aladdin, Coleman, etc. (Without this item, longer-term lighting is difficult.)
    
19. Baby Supplies: Diapers/formula/ointments/aspirin, etc
    
20. Washboards, Mop Bucket w/wringer (for Laundry)
    
21. Cookstoves (Propane, Coleman & Kerosene)
    
22. Vitamins (Critical) Vit C to stop rickets
    
23. Propane Cylinder Handle-Holder (Urgent: Small canister use is dangerous without this item.)
    
24. Feminine Hygiene/Haircare/Skin products
    
25. Thermal underwear (Tops and bottoms)
    
26. Bow saws, axes and hatchets & Wedges (also, honing oil)
    
27. Aluminum foil Reg. & Hvy. Duty (Great Cooking & Barter item)
    
28. Gasoline containers (Plastic or Metal)
    
29. Garbage bags (Impossible to have too many.)
    
30. Toilet Paper, Kleenex, paper towels
    
31. Milk - Powdered & Condensed (Shake liquid every 3 to 4 months.)
    
32. Garden seeds (Non-hybrid) (A MUST)
    
33. Clothes pins/line/hangers (A MUST)
    
34. Coleman's Pump Repair Kit: 1(800) 835-3278
    
35. Tuna Fish (in oil)
    
36. Fire extinguishers (or.. large box of Baking soda in every room...)
    
37. First aid kits
    
38. Batteries (all sizes...buy furthest-out for Expiration Dates)
    
39. Garlic, spices & vinegar, baking supplies
    
40. BIG DOGS (and plenty of dog food)
    
41. Flour, yeast & salt
    
42. Matches (3 box/$1 .44 at WalMart: "Strike Anywhere" preferred. Boxed, wooden matches will go first.)
    
43. Writing paper/pads/pencils/solar calculators
    
44. Insulated ice chests (good for keeping items from freezing in Wintertime)
    
45. Workboots, belts, Levis & durable shirts
    
46. Flashlights/LIGIITSTICKS & torches, "No.76 Dietz" Lanterns
    
47. Journals, Diaries & Scrapbooks (Jot down ideas, feelings, experiences: Historic times!)
    
48. Garbage cans Plastic (great for storage, water, transporting - if with wheels)
    
49. Men's/Women's Hygiene: Shampoo, Toothbrush/paste, Mouthwash/floss, nail clippers, etc.
    
50. Cast iron cookware (sturdy, efficient)
    
51. Fishing supplies/tools
    
52. Mosquito coils/repellent sprays/creams
    
53. Duct tape
    
54. Tarps/stakes/twine/nails/rope/spikes
    
55. Candles
    
56. Laundry detergent (Liquid)
    
57. Backpacks & Duffle bags
    
58. Garden tools & supplies
    
59. Scissors, fabrics & sewing supplies
    
60. Canned Fruits, Veggies, Soups, stews, etc.
    
61. Bleach (plain, NOT scented: 4 to 6% sodium hypochlorite)
    
62. Canning supplies (Jars/lids/wax)
    
63. Knives & Sharpening tools: files, stones, steel
    
64. Bicycles...Tires/tubes/pumps/chains, etc.
    
65. Sleeping bags & blankets/pillows/mats
    
66. Carbon Monoxide Alarm (battery powered)
    
67. Board Games Cards, Dice
    
68. d-Con Rat poison, MOUSE PRUFE II, Roach Killer
    
69. Mousetraps, Ant traps & cockroach magnets
    
70. Paper plates/cups/utensils (stock up, folks...)
    
71. Baby Wipes, oils, waterless & Anti-bacterial soap (saves a lot of water)
    
72. Rain gear, rubberized boots, etc.
    
73. Shaving supplies (razors & creams, talc, after shave)
    
74. Hand pumps & siphons (for water and for fuels)
    
75. Soy sauce, vinegar, boullions/gravy/soup base
    
76. Reading glasses and magnifying lenses (can be used for more than just seeing)
    
77. Chocolate/Cocoa/Tang/Punch (water enhancers)
    
78. "Survival-in-a-Can"
    
79. Woolen clothing, scarves/ear-muffs/mittens
    
80. BSA - New 1998 - Boy Scout Handbook (also, Leader's Catalog)
    
81. Roll-on Window Insulation Kit (MANCO)
    
82. Graham crackers, saltines, pretzels, Trail mix/Jerky
    
83. Popcorn, Peanut Butter, Nuts
    
84. Socks, Underwear, T-shirts, etc. (extras)
    
85. Lumber (all types)
    
86. Wagons & carts (for transport to & from open Flea markets)
    
87. Cots & Inflatable mattresses (for extra guests)
    
88. Gloves: Work/warming/gardening, etc.
    
89. Lantern Hangers
    
90. Screen Patches, glue, nails, screws, nuts & bolts
91. Teas
92. Coffee
93. Cigarettes
94. Wine/Liquors (for bribes, medicinal, etc.)
95. Paraffin wax
96. Glue, nails, nuts, bolts, screws, etc.
97. Chewing gum/candies
98. Atomizers (for cooling/bathing)
99. Hats & cotton neckerchiefs
100. Goats/Chickens
     

Got it? You know, it might be a good idea to print this off, or copy and paste it. If things get bad, how do you think you'll come back here to read it?

Yes, still I'm Karl

The Graceful Exit

Let me start with a quote:

There's a trick to the Graceful Exit. It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, a relationship is over -- and to let go. It means leaving what's over without denying its validity or its past importance in our lives. It involves a sense of future, a belief that every exit line is an entry, that we are moving on, rather than out. The trick of retiring well may be the trick of living well. It's hard to recognize that life isn't a holding action, but a process. It's hard to learn that we don't leave the best parts of ourselves behind, back in the dugout or the office. We own what we learned back there. The experiences and the growth are grafted onto our lives. And when we exit, we can take ourselves along - quite gracefully. --Ellen Goodman

Okay, so what does this mean to the rest of us who aren't yet at retirement age? I think she states something quite well. When any stage in life comes to a close, I have me. I've always had me, but if you are like me, you have a struggle with things changing. Go check out the book, Who Moved My Cheese which talks about change, and our resistance to it.

There are two things to consider here:

1. We are not alone in resisting change (There's another book of interest with the title, Nobody Moved Your Cheese! which might be worth considering, too).

2. Life isn't a snap-shot, or as she stated, a "Holding Action"

But, I have another viewpoint on #2.

Once when my now 15-year-old was about 2, we went hiking in Utah's Color Country (Utah has some of the best places in the world to hike). We came upon a depression in a very large rock -- so large that we were walking on it -- and my little son started playing in water that had collected there from the season's snow and rain.

As he was playing, a young couple quickly approached him. They were dressed in posh hiking boots, shorts (anyone who hikes in Utah's desert country in shorts is a certifiable lunatic, IMHO), with day-packs, complete with leather hats and all the trappings which back in those days showed them to be nutty tree-huggers.

They began to berate him for touching the water, because his skin oil was killing the micro-organisms and "other life" in the water. Since he was too far away, having followed the older kids ahead of his slow parents, there was nothing I could do but hear mumblings, and then find out what they had said from his older siblings.

I was enraged that a pair of fools had done this, but that's another story. We've been on that trail several times, and sometimes the pools are wet, and most of the time they are dry.

My point is this: In order to believe the tripe the green wackos spew, you have to believe all of life is in a Holding Action, or as I said above, a Snapshot rather that a changing, powerful creation that has all the tools and wonderful gifts from a Divine Creator, to grow and literally to heal itself.

God, after all, has said himself that he's created the earth with enough to take care of everyone and to spare. (http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/104/17#17)

My primary concern for the "Earth First" crowd, is they don't believe in God, thus are left to the "arm of flesh" (http://scriptures.lds.org/en/2_ne/4/34#34 and http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/1/19#19) for their "salvation" which isn't any salvation at all, as we know.

When I was a youngster, I was blessed with enough wisdom to have an epiphany which taught me that there weren't any people around me who weren't loved by God more than me. I learned there weren't people around me that were loved LESS by God than me. That mighty realization taught me that I couldn't trust any "man" to lead me. I had to rely on the Spirit, or "The Light of Christ" (http://scriptures.lds.org/en/moro/7/18-19#18 and http://scriptures.lds.org/en/alma/28/14#14 and http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/88/7#7), not to mention God's chosen servants.

So what's the conclusion?

Liberals who believe in evolution and that protecting the environment is the ultimate worship of their god are fools who will have their world come crashing down around them.

and

We must put our trust in God, from whom all life flows, and from whom all our blessings and gifts come.

And Yes, I'm Karl

Thoughts From My Son

Since he hits the nail on the head, I'm going to post this email he sent to me and his siblings.

Date: Mon, February 9, 2009 10:33 pm

Every once in a while I have some thoughts about just stuff really.

Last Sunday I was thinking about people saying there is no way to prove there is a God. This thought was provoked by a co-worker. He hates everything that has anything to do with God, Religion, and stuff he says "controls his life", Yes he used to be LDS.

There really is a lot of "evidence" that there is a God. After all if you made a world wouldn't you stick your "signature" on it somewhere?

The best place to start with any thought is at the beginning, or at its foundation. So, I thought about all the foundations of basic things to do with God and good, and basic human instincts.

I sent some of you one of my thoughts that explained that there is no such thing as Cold, Darkness, and Evil, because they can not be tested, or measured, except by measuring their opposites, Heat, Light and Good.

Scientists measure how cold something is by measuring the amount of heat it gives off. An example of this is what they do to try to reach absolute zero. At absolute zero all molecular motion does not cease but does not have enough energy to transfer its motion to another molecule. The motion in an object is set by energy. The type of energy that makes the molecules move is heat energy. The faster a molecule moves the hotter it gets, once it starts moving too fast it begins to "shed" some of its parts, or rather particles. When a molecule, or an Atom starts to shed its parts, it is said to be radio active. The "free radicals" collide with other atoms and start a chain reaction, hence radioactive poisoning. But lets back up some . . . okay, a lot.

When you touch something that is hot, you only know its hot because its molecules are hitting yours so hard and fast that your own molecules begin to become damaged, which hurts, or rather, burns.

Back to my point. You can not measure cold without measuring heat, therefore cold does not exist in and of itself, it can only be quantified by its opposite.

The same can be said of Darkness.

Darkness is only measured by "collecting" the photons flying around in the darkness. The human eye can pick up these photons that bounce off objects, and the brain creates an image based on the photons the eye collects.

The only way to measure darkness is by measuring the amount of light. You can measure light intensity but not dark intensity. Darkness, like cold, is not a thing. Its the absence of its opposite. Like coldness it is not a substance, it is not physical, and therefore does not exist.

To make a short story long, Evil is what you get when you take good away. We are taught in several places in the book of Mormon that mankind are by nature carnal, sensual and devilish, or said differently, selfish or self-consumed. Without Jesus Christ we can be no other thing, but evil. Wickedness never was happiness because happiness is the product of righteousness (see http://scriptures.lds.org/en/alma/41/10-11#10). It is the measurable quality that quantifies your righteousness. True happiness is only obtained by being close to God, such closeness is only obtained by being righteous.

So how do we be both happy and righteous? "the spirit of God is given to all those who keep my commandments, (Rats! NO one can keep all the commandments all the time, old, young, smart, dumb, good, bad, EVERYONE will sin as long as they are mortal), so according to this scripture in D&C 45 there is no way to be happy. . . . except there is more in that scripture. "and to him that seeketh so to do" (http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/45)

Both of these scriptures say that to be happy all we have to do is seek to keep the commandments. As we do this our ability to keep the commandments will increase, making it seem easier to do. As a product of this increase in our ability to keep the commandments, our happiness will also increase.

Someone once asked Mother Teresa why she was doing everything she was, when there was no way for her to possibly make even the smallest dent in the amount of suffering in the world. What she said was absolutely true.

"God does not require that I succeed. He only requires that I do the best I can."

So, to continue, remember that everything is by default Cold, Dark, and Evil, and when everything is cold, dark, and evil, everything will be completely dead, both temporal and spiritual. Only by introducing heat, light, and Good, can life thrive.

There was a reason Jesus said "I am the light, and life of the world."

So there are some long thoughts of mine. The fact that there is light, heat and happiness proves to anyone with a brain that God exists.

Erik

He's right, so now go fight with some secular humanist.

Karl

A Few of my Heroes

Among my heroes are my Mother, my Wife and some others who are special to me, and hold a place in my heart.

I have a new hero to add. Before I tell you, I need to explain what happened this week, but mostly today.

Today is my beautiful bride's birthday. She's the light, life and joy of my life. But today wasn't a regular birthday for her or me. It might have been if not for some circumstances in God's hands, not ours.

Last week, my Mom's sister, and best friend, died. She was around 90, and got some problem with her circulation which took about 3 weeks to take her from mortality. I visited with her shortly before her death, and my sister visited her the day of her death. I took my Mom with me, and my sister didn't, which was good, because she whispered to our aunt, "When you get to the other side, tell Dad to come for Mom." That is an interesting thing to tell a dying woman, isn't it? You would have to know the circumstances we are in, and even then, you might not understand why I'm not offended.

My aunt died a little later that same day, and her funeral was today at 11am. My wife and I enjoyed her funeral, and felt it was a good tribute, and a blessed event. I guess we Latter-Day Saints look at death much differently than other religions do. I've found that we look at death much the same as other people do, however. It's just that those people don't know what their 'religions' teach, so their personal beliefs are more in line with truth. In any event, the funeral was nice.

After the funeral, in our culture, we venture forth from the church to the site of the grave and have a small service there, where a dedicatory prayer is said. My sister asked my wife and I to go with her and she would bring us back for the family dinner to be served afterwards. Mother came with us, as she is no longer as independent as she once was.

The funeral was in Sandy and the cemetery in Draper. That's a ways away. On the way, my sister thought my mother's speech was slurred more than normal. Then about five minutes from the cemetery, Mom remarked that she was having trouble speaking, and the right side of her face seemed numb, like she had just come from the dentist. We asked her to raise both arms; fine. We got to the cemetery and I got out to look at her face, and saw that the corner of her mouth was drooping.

I told a cousin that we thought Mom was having a stroke, and felt an urgency to take her to a local hospital. We left and did just that. On the way, she seemed fine, and her slight paralysis seemed to somewhat lessen.

I've taken enough time for this part of the story. If you want to know what happened, visit Ischemic Attack on wikipedia.org and read up.

So, to the point. Being my wife's birthday, we excused ourself from the hospital, with my sister's permission, and said good bye to Mom. My eldest brother and his wife were enroute, so we were sure things would be okay.

Our tradition, because of my wife's Celiac Disease and diabetes, and love for good salmon, is to order a dinner on special occasions from Outback Steakhouse. The one we prefer, and have used often (more often before I got laid off), is in Orem, Utah at 372 East 1300 South (801-764-0552) because they have wonderful food and great service. Plus, my wife can eat their food and has never had a problem with what they cook.

I called, and because of the day we've had (we didn't get anything to eat, which is especially a bad thing for my wife's diabetes), I told the young lady taking our order over the phone (we always use their "Curbside Takeaway") all we'd been through.

When I got there, it took longer than usual for our order to be brought out. I was alone because after the day we'd had, my wife was too tired to be driving all over the place. The young lady came out, finally, and I handed her my debit card, and she said, "That's okay. You've had a rough day so there will be no charge this time." (I suspect she took time before bringing my order out to ask the manager if her idea of a complimentary meal was okay; she did mention that she recognized my car. What a sweetheart!)

I weakly thanked her, while thinking how lame I am for not carrying any cash for a tip, and drove away. As I circled through the parking lot, I was overcome and began to cry. I called my bride to share the experience with her. After hanging up, I cried again. You know, getting older sure has weakened my emotional grip. I don't care, actually. I care more now than I did then.

I grew up around a lot of Polynesians. I was told "We don't eat until we are full; we eat until we are tired." It was explained that on many Islands, there is no method of preserving food from a meal, so it all has to be eaten to avoid waste. I've also learned from personal experience that if all is eaten, it won't avoid waist, at least not mine.

That part of my life developed in me a tremendous love of good food. Outback Steakhouse has good food. Tonight I ordered the usual for my wife, salmon with an extra sauce and a baked sweet potato (they actually cook yams, but they are good, too). I forgot to order her the vegetables, so felt pretty stupid when she asked where they were. I ordered a ribeye steak, which was not my usual. I usually get the Outback Special steak. I also ordered a baked sweet potato, plus a caesars salad.

This entry in my blog is meant as a tribute to the Orem, Utah Outback Steakhouse and I would be honored if you would visit them and let them know it's because of how they treated us on Monday, February 9th, 2008 after an especially difficult day.

There are few things that earn my loyalty. Honesty, fairness, discipline, consistency, and good service are among them. This restaurant has shown me all of those. Please visit soon. And tip well; I usually tip between 15% and 20% (and sometimes more) because they are worth it, in spite of being in my car and eating at home. We live about 12 miles away.

Karl

The Best Linux Distribution

I do a search for the best linux distribution every year or so, just to see what's changed on the Linux Landscape.

I found an article today right on blogspot.com while searching and thought some of y'all might be interested. After you read it, come back to the rest of this blog for my thoughts.

http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2005/12/best-linux-distribution-of-them-all.html

I think he does a fairly good job of diagnosing the issues, though I disagree on parts, but they are taste differences, not content differences.

For example, if a person really can't figure out how to install an MP3 player, or the security-enabled DVD playing software, such as MPlayer (I prefer VLC or Ogle for DVDs), then paying a bit for Linspire, etc. might be a good idea, but personally, I recommend one of the good offshoots of the deb or rpm trees that can be downloaded free of charge.

He's right about Slackware, which is what I learned on. I didn't know any better back then, so learning on it gave me a base on which to build.

Okay, so what do I think is the best distribution? For smallness, you can't beat DSL (he called it by the real name), which I use from my flash drive when I need Linux on a windows machine; I can run it without rebooting and it runs right in a window on the MS machine. I've run it on everything from Win98 to Vista without any problems. Oh, and if you really like it (it lacks major functionality for productivity, like an office suite that reads docx, etc.) you can install it on your computer and make it the native OS.

For a solid desktop distribution, you can't beat either PCLinuxOS (also called PCLOS) or Linux Mint. PCLOS is an rpm-based distribution and Linux Mint is a deb-based distribution. They both contain everything you need to be productive within about an hour. Installing any windows OS, after Win98se, takes up to 3 or 4 hours, unless you don't have any productivity software to install, then you are somewhere between 2.5 and 3.5 hours. But what good would that PC be?

One caveat on PCLOS. The main developer who has driven this fine distribution has been out of circulation for over a year, and the last solid release was version 2007. His qualified supporters and co-programmers, however, have released a beta version that will become PCLinuxOS 2009.

Linux Mint is about to release v6 which is in beta right now.

In our home, we have a Fedora server, which is our web server for http://ourldsfamily.com and all the sites linked from that page, and our email server, spam filter, virus scanner, subordinate firewall and file and print server. It also hosts over 5300 email addresses in about 105 email groups. It doesn't store the emails for those addresses, other than the archives, but does a good job of passing as many as 500 emails a minute through cyberspace.

We have a firewall/gateway PC running CentOS v5 as an embedded part of SmoothWall, a free firewall product that meets our needs perfectly.

We have several PCs running PCLinuxOS v2007, and several others running Linux Mint, including the Acer Aspire 5520 laptop I'm using right now which came with Vista Home, which just plain didn't do what I needed after hours of configuring and installing additional software, but that's me.

Okay, we do have one PC that dual-boots between XP and Linux Mint. Not my idea. I have a couple kids that just can't seem to break bad habits. There's a very old PC running Win98, too. It may not last the weekend, however, which I've been saying for about 20 weekends now. It's an early pentium with 64MB of Ram and a 40GB disk.

If you decide to install any type of Linux, ask me about it and I'll do what I can to help, within reason. I have to feed my family, too.

Oh, and here's a link to a page explaining the pronunciation of Linux:

http://www.paul.sladen.org/pronunciation/

---
Karl Pearson
---
"To mess up your Linux PC, you have to really work at it;
to mess up a microsoft PC you just have to work on it."
---

A Bit about Values

First, let me share a quote from Glenn Beck (who admittedly isn't the final word on anything, let alone everything; by his own admission):

"It isn't about 'right' or 'left', it's about 'right' or 'wrong'."

In watching politics, and doing a bit of study of politicians as far back as Woodrow Wilson, a fascist, let me explain one thing: democrats and republicans who are not based on Christ, are going to be wrong more than they are going to be right.

Yes, it's that simple.

Before I go farther, let me explain something. There are 3 word pairs I consider when I try to understand people and what they seem to be saying about whatever policy or principle they are discussing:

Even and Fair
Easy and Simple
Nice and Good

There may be others but these three will suffice for now.

I was a high school basketball official for 10 years, until my knees quit accepting the hardwood abuse, and a high school football official for 14 years. I was pretty good. I started doing state football playoffs in my second year as an official, if that means anything.

When I was the "referee" (the one in charge of the officiating crew), I often used "Even and Fair" as part of my pre-game instructions to the captains. I would explain that if we tried to call the game "Even", it would most likely not be "Fair". Why? Because the talent levels of the two teams, and more importantly, their playing styles, would make the game uneven at the outset with the team "more even" being the better team. Should we attempt to make the calling of penalties "Even" we could not also be "Fair" to the better team.

"Easy" and "Simple" are easy to figure out, so I will forgo an explanation.

"Nice" and "Good", however seem to be grossly misunderstood in today's society. While many people are "nice", few it seems are truly, at the core, "Good".

You ask, "How can you make such a generalized and rash judgment?"

That's easy, "I'm right."

While our current president seems like a very "nice" person (there is some doubt about that), he is definitely not a "good" person. How can I make such a statement? Using the statement of Christ and His followers: "By their fruits ye shall ye know them". see http://scriptures.lds.org/en/3_ne/14/16,20#16 or http://scriptures.lds.org/en/matt/7/16,20#16

What are those fruits?

I'm not going to enumerate them, because any honest person already knows. Think "partial birth abortion" if you really have no clue.

Let me state a few core beliefs, thus my Values:

I believe the teachings of the prophets and apostles, both in biblical times, and those who stand at the head of Christ's church today. Christ's church today is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. see http://scriptures.lds.org/en/3_ne/27/3-8#3

Therefore, I can unequivocally state, I believe The Book of Mormon to be the word of God, as well as the Holy Bible, where translations of men do not get in the way. I am against abortion, I support traditional families, freedom of speech, freedom of thought and religion, and freedom to protect our lives, liberty and ownership of property. I am against any political party or politician that does anything which might, even remotely, destroy any of these values.

I firmly believe abortion for convenience is murder and cannot justify supporting any candidate that does not vote in favor of life whether at its beginning or at its end. I also support the LDS church in their definition of the traditional family. see http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=e1fa5f74db46c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=1aba862384d20110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&hideNav=1&contentLocale=0

It is these moral issues--and protecting our individual liberties, that have caused me to vote for those who will work to protect our freedom regardless of party affiliation. Unfortunately the choices have dwindled to nearly nothing.

By making these statements, I'm sure some readers will be offended. That's good, if I've made you think. I mean really think. If you are unable to think, then I'm sorry for you because you are lost unless you can somehow overcome whatever is darkening your mind.

I've noticed that those who are liberal can't answer a direct question with a direct answer. They can't state a personal core belief, because they have none. Their core is "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine." see http://scriptures.lds.org/en/eph/4/11-14#11

And thanks for putting up with me for a bit.

Karl

First online post

Okay, that first post was lame, but it proved to me I can submit blogs using my email account. What kind of technology are we enjoying?

I started in computers over 20 years ago. I was a poor college student (with kids and a beautiful wife) and while going to school, found a computer I could compose music on: the Commodore 64, which was the personal computer that sold more than any other PC in history. I bought it from a store that was toying with the idea of selling the IBM PC, a new thing at the time. 8086 and 8088 processors. Marvelous, no? uh, no, not by today's standards (do we have standards any more? But I digress).

The first time the Commodore broke, I paid them to fix the thing. I couldn't believe I paid $85 to repair a $250 computer, so I bought a schematic, and the next time it broke, I bought the chip and soldered it on the motherboard myself. That led me to getting a job at that little shop, and that's where I learned to service, then sell, the IBM PS/2 line of PCs. We also sold Everex PCs which were very nice then. We also sold Compaq, which was the best IBM clone of the day.

After I moved into sales, I had an account with a company named Dynix who automated libraries. When the owner's wife (of the computer store) stole money out of a paycheck and shorted me about $70.oo, I applied for work at Dynix, and became their Contracts Coordinator, where I wrote contracts from a boilerplate, and even added some parts a couple of times. One of those additions was for a type of gap insurance that earned the company roughly $50,000 the first year. that was more than twice my salary at the time.

That position only lasted about 6 months. I moved into support, and began to learn operating systems, such as Native PICK, including repairing GFEs (corrupt database files), and then AIX, Sequoia, HP/UX, Sequent, Sun (or Solaris), MIPS (out of business shortly thereafter), and then, Linux, which is where I am now, well among many other things. The database Dynix settled on back then, was UniVerse, a product of Vmark (now IBM, after a stop with Informix in between). I became pretty good on the UV RDBMS, as it is sometimes called.

In any case, my signature line on the 'first email post' tells all, doesn't it?

Okay, I've left out a bunch of stuff, like setting up email servers, web servers, DNS servers, database servers, firewalls, NAT/Port forwarding gateways, etc. etc... but you get the gist: I'm a geek.

Sometime, I'll discuss why I think CCW is not just a right, but a responsibility of every real head of a household, not to mention anyone else who is qualified. I'll also mention my disdain for abortion. I have a quote on my personal home page (http://ourldsfamily.com/~karlp) that states:

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally. --Abraham Lincoln

I feel the same for those who argue in favor of abortion. --Karl Pearson

I also agree with President Lincoln's comment, so there's no confusion on that point either.

So this is where my blog starts.

First Email Post

This is my first attempt at an email submitted blog entry.

I'll keep it short.

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Karl
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"To mess up your Linux PC, you have to really work at it;
to mess up a microsoft PC you just have to work on it."
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See My Facebook Account

First Blog Entry