Category: random

Stop running from your problems, instead face them head on.
There is no person in the world capable of handling every thing thrown at them.
We aren’t supposed to be able to instantly solve problems. That’s not how we’re made.
In fact, we’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble and fall.
Because that’s the whole purpose of living — to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve them over the course of time.
This is what ultimately molds us into the person we become.
And no, it won’t be easy.

A U.S. State Department diplomat suspected of killing his wife, mother and three sons in 1976 is now on the FBI’s list of “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives,” bringing new attention to the case.

William Bradford “Brad” Bishop Jr., is accused of beating his family to death in their home in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, and then drove to a wooded area in North Carolina, where authorities say he dumped their bodies in a shallow grave and burned them. They weren’t identified until a week later, giving Bishop ample time to plot a getaway.

Investigators say its possible Bishop, who would now be 77 years old, fled to Europe and is living there under a false name. A Yale graduate who later earned a master’s degree in Italian, is fluent in five languages.

While there is no evidence to show Bishop’s whereabouts, investigators are enhancing publicity efforts in the Western United States. Bishop, who was born in Pasadena, California, still has associations in that area, was also known to hike throughout the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.

There hasn’t been a confirmed sighting of Bishop since 1976, in Jacksonville, North Carolina, although three people who knew him have reported spotting him in Europe over the years, most recently in 1994.

There is a reward of up to $100,000 being offered by the FBI for information leading to the capture of Bishop.

The news left me so stunned that I literally heard myself gasp. I look around the room as Mary and at Kay, they too had their mouths open in shock.

The newscaster had jus’ announced that Robin Williams’ had committed suicide. It felt like a ton of bricks had fallen on me.

Reporting of his death instantly transported me back to 1981 and the overdose death of John Belushi. His much-lauded death stunned me too.

It also caused me to recall the fact that twice in 2002 I tried to off myself as well. The first time was alcohol-fueled and the second simply because I felt I couldn’t go on any longer.

Both attempts were foiled by people who should never have been able to find me. In the first I was amidst a nighttime cow-field, the next while swimming away form the Lake Tahoe shoreline under the cover darkness.

In my case I’ve concluded that God isn’t finished with me yet therefore Angels graced me by guiding people to stop me. As for Robin Williams, maybe God said, “Okay, that’s enough, time for you to come home.”

While taking a few photographs of a double rainbow in Spanish Springs, Nevada, I captured several unidentified objects in one frame. And by the next click of the shutter, they were gone.

They’re unidentified because I don’t know what they are and there isn’t any others like them in any of the other pictures I took. The best I can do is describe them as white spherical-shaped light that appear to be moving upward and to the right as you look at it.

Kind of interesting, huh?

Soon I should be suffering from withdrawals if I’m truly addicted to Facebook. I draw this conclusion based on the fact that I recently closed my account.

Facebook for me has been a way to get back and stay in touch with people I have known over the years — from grade school, through my time in the military right on through my years working in broadcasting. But after sitting in the dark, talking to God, it came upon my heart to disconnect myself from the Internet as much as possible for the time being.

For the last several years I’ve worked hard to find fame through my writing abilities. But it has yet to turn out as I’ve planned.

There in lays the problem — MY plan. None of this should be my mine, but rather God’s plan.

So to return to where I should be, I’ve left my online life behind for a while. I am now searching to fulfill what it is Christ has planned for me.

The death of James Brady — President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary who was wounded in the attempt on Reagan’s life in March 1981 — was a homicide, a medical examiner has ruled. Brady died as a result of the injuries, the Office of the Medical Examiner for the Northern District of Virginia said.

That means gunman John Hinckley Jr. could be charged with Brady’s murder. It also means Lewis Powell, the attacker of President Abe Lincoln’s Secretary of State William Seward can be charged with the secretary’s death – even though he lived another seven- years following the attack.

How stupid!

Born in London, March 16th 1836, Andrew Hallidie was a pioneer of cable railway transportation.  On January 28th, 1852, he and his father left Liverpool for America on the steamship ‘Pacific’ arriving in New York on February 12th, after a fifteen day crossing.

Following a 16-day stopover, the pair departed on the ‘Brother Jonathan.’ Thirteen years later, the Brother Jonathan would sink after striking an uncharted rock near Point St. George, off of Crescent City, while carrying 244 passengers.

After crossing the Isthmus the travelers reached Panama on March 15th. On the 26th they embarked on the ship ‘Brutus’ and landed at Clark’s Point in San Francisco 59-days later.

The younger Hallidie spent the next nine-years working mines in Mariposa, Calaveras, Amador, El Dorado, Placer, and Nevada counties. He also worked as a blacksmith along the American River, later building bridges across the Bear, Trinity, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne rivers.

In 1861, Hallidie constructed a bridge across the Klamath River at Weitchpeck, but had to leave it unfinished because of an uprising of Indians. Its completion didn’t happen until 1901, about a year after his death, with the construction of the Ash Creek Bridge in Siskiyou County.

Six years later, he took out his first patent for the invention of a rigid suspension bridge. He also patented the “Hallidie Ropeway (or Tramway),” a method of transporting ore and other material across mountainous districts by means of an elevated, endless traveling line, which he had invented.

Hallidie, in 1871, completed plans by which street cars could be propelled by underground cables, from Clay and Kearny Streets to the crest of the hill, a distance of 2,800 feet, making a rise of 307 feet. With his success, the cable railroad system spread to Oakland, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia, New York, London, and Sidney.

At the age of sixty-five, he died of heart disease at his San Francisco home, April 24th, 1900. His name is memorialized by way of the Hallidie Building at 130 Sutter Street, between Montgomery and Kearny in San Francisco.

During a discussion on ‘The View,’ August 6th, 2014 that centered on a story out of Georgia where a group of power-walkers were told by mall security that they were not allowed to bow their heads in group prayer, co-host Whoopi Goldberg went off on the subject saying:

“I’m sorry. I don’t necessarily want to trip over anyone who’s praying. I want you to pray. I want you to pray whenever you are. But I don’t want to know you’re doing it. I don’t want to know, because it’s your private business and if you do it everybody else gets the right to do it.”

Odd that even when making a negative statement about individual liberty like this that Whoopi could also be so right.

Jus’ so Whoopi understands, freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. In fact, in the U.S. there is a document that enshrines these rights called the Constitution. This principle is clearly expressed in the First Amendment:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

I feel sorry for Whoopi Goldberg, as it is hard to live and thrive under such intolerable conditions like she has.

With Hawai’i set to be battered by two storms, there seems to be some confusion over the different types of storms that affect our earth. So what are the islands going to be hit with?

From the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s webpage:

“Hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons are all the same weather phenomenon; we just use different names for these storms in different places. In the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific, the term “hurricane” is used. The same type of disturbance in the Northwest Pacific is called a “typhoon” and “cyclones” occur in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.

The ingredients for these storms include a pre-existing weather disturbance, warm tropical oceans, moisture, and relatively light winds. If the right conditions persist long enough, they can combine to produce the violent winds, incredible waves, torrential rains, and floods we associate with this phenomenon.

In the Atlantic, hurricane season officially runs June 1 to November 30. However, while 97 percent of tropical activity occurs during this time period, there is nothing magical in these dates, and hurricanes have occurred outside of these six months.”

A few months ago a friend sent me a list he called ‘Life Lessons.’ They are sound and now I want to share them with you.

Life is far too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you.
If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you.
You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot.
Never, ever insist yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth.
And remember, it’s not the people who stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends.