Can you recommend another blog or web site I should be following? I already follow (and recommend) Sheep and Goats. From time to time I comment there and occasionally you will find Tom commenting here, as well. We’ve exchanged emails “behind the curtains” and he seems like a genuinely likeable Brother. I’ve also been introduced to “The Ultimate Bible Reference Library” and some other commercial sites such as “Theocratic Ministry School Software”. I use, and recommend, “Service Record” from Savard Software which comes as shareware with a nag-screen. If you hate nag screens as much as I do, you’ll send Br.(?) Savard the (lifetime) registration fee because you won’t want to get rid of the software. By the time you’ve used it for a few months you’ll wonder why it isn’t available over the literature counter. Well it’s not … get over it … but you can get it free online. This program is begging for an open-source simulacrum or Doppelgänger so as to speed translation and feature acquisition.

BTW, as I write this, Tom’s newest post contains the memorable line: “am I really so immodest as to think what is needed in the brotherhood is 7 million carbon copies of ME?” Read the rest of the post and I think you’ll agree that there is a need for all of us to be thinkers.

However, with so much of what a search turns up turning out to be, at best, ‘junk’ after a few pages (apostates and opposers have to show their cards eventually), I could certainly use your help in locating ‘the good stuff’. I’m sure that I have no more than scratched the surface, if that.

I define “The ‘good stuff’” as material that complies with instructions from the Faithful & Discreet Slave regarding the various “do’s and don’ts”.

You may notice that I’ve been steering toward a more open expression of my religious beliefs here. That trend is expected to continue. Along the way I will no doubt alienate some readers while becoming more attractive to others. I read all of the comments appearing here several times a week … so right here is a good place to respond with any recommendations you might have. Feel free to self-recommend, too. If it’s ‘the good stuff’, I’ll say so. If it’s not, I’ll say so.

Right here.

If you like the changes, please spread the word.

– Bill

Tax time has come around again but, contrary to reports both published and whispered, the IRS is not after your soul.

This year, as every year, many young folk are faced with filing their income taxes for the very first time. Some will get no help from others in their family. This post is addressed to those individuals, but the rest of us could probably profit from reading it, too.

Click here to read on, my friend.

This is a personal blog. So, with your permission, I’d like to take a moment to get personal with you.

Click here to read on, my friend.

Just a very brief post today.

Like I often do, I was using Wikipedia several times today to research a small point. Sometimes it is for a book I am working on, sometimes for “pay the rent” college papers, sometimes just to get my facts straight before writing an e-mail or, even more critically, before answering a question from my wife.

Married men: do not underestimate the value of Wikipedia!

The point is, I use Wikipedia a lot and I’m willing to guess that you do too.

Today, in the banner area, there was a request from Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, for financial support. You can probably guess where I am going with this, can’t you.

This won’t be the first time I have donated. I have a keen appreciation of the value of what amounts to an encyclopedia that is kept up to the minute. If things change … and I know of the change … I can even make the needed edit myself.

Yeah, just makes me feel warm all over.

That’s Jimmy below. Look at those sad little puppy dog eyes. He’s not getting rich off this; the poor man is going gray and can barely afford to shave. Open your wallet.

They are asking for a minimum contribution of $35 … so are the guys alongside the road with those cute signs about ninjas and kung fu lessons. When I get done paying this months bills, maybe this time I’ll pop ‘em $35-$50. Or, maybe I’ll just slide ‘em the same $20 I’ve been passing along all these lean years. They’ve never complained … and they’ve never shut my subscription off.

Here’s where to go when you leave this blog today. http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Support_Wikipedia/en

Oh, and if you make a donation of at least $100, the founder of eBay will match it … turning your $100 into $200 with no pain to you (or him, either … the guy is loaded!) Moreover, this donation is tax deductible for you and for him).

I tutor a young man in the English language. I attempt to cover grammar, composition and so on. With his Dad absent, we talk about the ‘and so on’ fairly often*. We get along okay, even though I’m not always convinced that the time is well spent.

This past Wednesday, as part of an exercise demonstrating viewpoint, I asked him why he thought I tutored him.

Click here to read on, my friend.

In a world increasingly ruled by science and technology, the benefits of having a scientifically literate voting population and workforce should be obvious. Furthermore, more important than teaching the current findings of science–what scientists currently think is true–is teaching how science works. Intelligent Design should not be taught as science in the public schools because it is not science. For example, ID cannot state its hypotheses in a way that can be tested by observation and proven false. (Italics added)

                                                  http://www.weirdsciencecolumn.com/site_weirdsciencecolumn/weirdscience-ID102804.htm

I was wandering around (unescorted) on the internet a few minutes ago and bumped into this gem. Moreover, I’m not so certain that this world is in any way, shape or form ruled by science and technology. It looks to me like it is ruled by men whose egos make them readily amenable to the suggestions of Satan.

But that is not what this post is about.

Click here to read on, my friend.

This is a ‘just gotta get it off my chest’ post. Nothing to see here, move along, move along.

And what is a good citizen? Simply one who never says, does or thinks anything that is unusual. Schools are maintained in order to bring this uniformity up to the highest possible point. A school is a hopper into which children are heaved while they are still young and tender; therein they are pressed into certain standard shapes and covered from head to heels with official rubber-stamps. – H.L. Mencken

In an ideal world, perhaps, the function of schools would be to teach children not only a limited set of facts, but how to expand on those facts; to cause algebra and poetry to merge into history and from there to take a leap forward into the future and beautify it.

In an ideal world.

What happened to American education? The growth of that great nation was fueled as much by her engines of education as by her steam-powered vessels and deep fund of natural resources. And now look … mired in wars that cannot be won against ideologies that cannot be killed by anything humans can throw against them, draining the blood of her sturdy citizens to feather the beds of those who have never known any other sort.

Click here to read on, my friend.

That is, how large is the gap between your ability to read and your ability to write?

Bloggers are writers — authors, if you will. Whether we are blogging about the depths of our souls or the innermost workings of the latest electronic gadget that may never even see production, we are writers.

Would you, no matter what your occupation, like to be a better writer? Click here to read on, my friend.

As a writer, I tend to read a lot about writing. I have my Stumble Upon preferences set to include this material and spend some time each day looking for tidbits I can use to hone my craft. I tend to encounter a lot of sites that focus on this or that technical aspect of writing so it was refreshing to to find the “Cool Spring Narrative Writing Site”.

If you don’t mind the detour, I’d like to recommend that you take a few minutes to stop in because this site is custom made for the beginning writer who wants a quick check up on their basic skills before venturing into the public eye.

Established writers are, of course, only too aware of the wisdom of touching base with the foundations of narrative writing from time to time.

If you decide that you would like to try your hand at blogging, WordPress recommends Bluehost.com, and so do I.

The US has 5 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the world’s prisoners.*

http://www.wanttoknow.info/massmedia#akre

Ever play with numbers … you know, do things like compare how many people enroll in the Detroit school system in one year and how many graduate from it a few years later? Just fun stuff with statistics, nothing you need a college degree for. (Nor, fortunately, a HS diploma.)

For the Detroit public school system, the widely accepted graduation rate is 25%. That is, 3 out of 4 who enroll in 10th grade never receive a diploma. This statistic handily ignores the number who never made it to 10th grade. Click here to read on, my friend.