Some Blog Site

We made sugar cookies today.  On the beach.

Ingredients:

• 4 tsp. sunscreen
• 2 cups sand
• 1 child
• 1 swimsuit

Instructions:

1. Place child in swimsuit
2. Spread sunscreen on skin of child, taking care not to put sunscreen on the swimsuit
3. Sprinkle the sand onto the child, rotating to ensure even coverage
4. Optional step: place child on towel and bake in the sunshine for a few minutes

As you may have guessed, we did not eat these cookies, so I can’t say how they taste.  But I would expect they would be a bit gritty.

“Then you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it; two-tenths {of an ephah} shall be {in} each cake.”
– Leviticus 24:5

To avoid sunburns, we use sunscreen.  Recently my wife bought a large bottle of NO-AD sunblock lotion.  It was highly rated by someone or something, so she thought she would try it.  It’s called NO-AD because they don’t advertise.

So we were at a place that gives you wristbands for admittance, and they write something on the plastic wristband.  It was written in permanent marker, and my wristband had gotten wet with no problems.  But after I applied this NO-AD sunblock, I noticed I had some darker spots on my skin.  I looked around and noticed that the permanent marker was running or bleeding off my wristband.  I thought “That’s a poor permanent marker to just be able to wash off with water.”  But after checking other people’s wristbands, I saw that mine was the only one with a problem.  So the only other conclusion was that the sunblock acted as a solvent for permanent marker.

I forgot about that incident until the next morning.  I did not put the NO-AD sunblock on myself, but I did put it on my children.  So the only place on my that had the NO-AD was the palm of one hand.  An hour later, I happened to hold a ballpoint pen.  It was the standard pen with the name of the hotel printed on it.  I’ve had it for a while and it never caused any problems.  But when I opened my hand to put the pen down, I noticed that the hotel name was now printed on my hand.  The ink from the pen’s shell, the ink that was used to print the hotel name and logo, had been partially dissolved by the sunblock and was now smeared on my hand.

So some ingredient in the sunblock is acting as a solvent to break down inks.  They could break into another market and increase their sales.  Just pour some sunscreen into a different bottle and label it as “permanent marker smearer” or something.

“Our skin has become as hot as an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine.”
– Lamentations 5:10

It’s fun dealing with a young child who is still learning grammar.  Here are some recent accounts of conversations that we had with our young children.

Before the funeral – Me: “Okay, you need to be good during the funeral.”
After the funeral – Child: “Did I be good?”

How can you not smile at the child who says that?

A different situation, this time:

Me:  “You need to get dressed; it’s almost time to go.”
Child: “No, I willn’t”

Part of me was ready to discipline him because he said that with a defiant and angry attitude.  But more of me was ready to laugh at the grammar or using “willn’t” instead of “won’t”.  But I couldn’t let him see me laughing.  One reason was that I didn’t want him to think his attitude was okay, and the other one was that if he saw my laughing at him while he was angry, that would make him even more angry.  So that was one of those situations where I had to stifle my amusement until later and deal with the immediate problem.  So I went over to him and said, “It’s won’t, not willn’t.”

Here is an exchange that happened while we were driving somewhere.  As I was driving, not taking notes, I don’t have the exact words that were used, but these quotes portray the spirit of the event.

Me: “That’s not food.  Do not put anything in your mouth except food.”
Child: “And drink!”
Me: “Yes, and drink”
Child: “And silverware”
Me: “Yes, and silverware too”
Child: “And medicine”
Me: “Okay, and medicine”

I think it ended there, but that reinforced the concept that family rules should be more general than specific.

What constitutes a successful nation?

Is it how comfortable the people are? Is it how happy the people are? Is it how rich the people are? Is it how many people want to leave their countries for it? Is it how free the people are?

However you measure it, the USA is a successful nation and a great place to live. Not just exist, but live.

Although July 4th is two days late:

Happy Birthday

A M E R I C AA M E R I C AA M E R I C A!

I just saw the report that the police used a Taser on some guy, and it not only subdued him, it also restored his heart rhythm as he was having some heart problems before.

Since Tasers are recommended as an alternative to deadly force, and since Automatic Emergency Defibrillators (AEDs) are recommended for just about every public setting, I propose that people carry one Taser to fulfill both recommendations. If Taser (or any of Taser’s competitors whose names no one knows because Taser is as established a brand as Kleenex) decides to promote this, it could be a very good campaign for them. It could allow them to sell their products in states or cities where they are currently banned. Just label them as AEDs and they are instantly legal! Or maybe it’s not that easy.

“The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?”
– Psalm 27:1