Living Below Sea Level

High volume pumping kit

Everyone knows–or at least I assume everyone knows–that parts of the Netherlands (aka Holland…see this video for more information on this country)–are below sea level.  Well, did you know that part of England is also below sea level?  Well, it is:  Somerset  I didn’t know it until the news media started running stories about pumping in Somerset.  Here’s some news stories (along with a video you can watch):

Will the military help pump at Somerset
Pumping Continues (good video)

[Update 2014-02-16 07:42:14] Here’s an article about flooding in Croydon (with some pictures that Isaac and I took yesterday.

Image from alex foster via flickr

Snow in the South

20140130_GASnow1 20140130_GASnow2

Yes.  Yes, I am going to make fun of the people in Atlanta (and Georgia and other places in “the south”).  Not because I don’t think they are smart.  Not because I think they are hicks.  Not because of anything else you are thinking–I’m from West Virgina, don’t forget.  But because of their general flip out over snow and weather.

First, you should be thankful you’ve got snow.  Some people, like me, live their year waiting anxiously for winter.  Why?  Well, it can be sunny any time…it can rain any time…you can have a rainbow any time.  But winter is the only time you have a remote chance of snow.  That’s it.  One small 3 month window.  I love snow.  I’m still waiting for my winter this year to even have a chance of snow (we’ve had at the most 6 days with temperatures below freezing).  Once it gets cold, I wish for snow.

Second, have a look at the two pictures on the bottom.  Read that captions (click them for a larger view and proper source attribution).  Now look at the pictures again.  What do you notice?  That’s right…one has dry pavement and neither of them have SNOW.  They’ve got–what–an inch at the most.  You don’t need a 4×4 to move in that.  You need some common sense.  Even if the roads are a sheet of ice (like I’ve seen in some)…take it easy and you’ll get home.

The top picture illustrates what different people think of snow.  I find it hilarious.  Not because the Canadians are all like “look at our snow eh” but because people who get snow know what to do about it.  They spend the money to treat it on the roads.  They do the proactive work before-hand.  When it comes, they don’t freak out pass the “ahh milk and bread” level too often.  You deal with it.  

S0, at the end of the day, Slow down.  Take it easy.

Manual Transmission / Five Speed

Audi A5 Coupe 6-Speed Manual Transmission

All of the people I meet overseas are shocked when I answer their “I bet you had a hard time learning to shift gears” with a “No, I’ve never owned a car for me that didn’t have a manual transmission.”  Yep, you read that right…every car that I have had for me has had a manual transmission:

  • 1988 Jeep Cherokee Chief — 5 speed
    2000 Mazda Protoge — yep, it was a 5 speed too

The next one I buy for me, I expect will be the same thing.

But, I’m curious about a few things:

  • How did automatics become so popular in the US?
  • Why are automatics not so popular overseas?
  • Do you think it is an essential skill to learn to drive an stick shift?

Anyone want to chime in?

image from maria palma via flickr


Sure “English” has many variants, right?  I mean, there’s US English, UK English, Australian English, New Zealand English, and so on; however, we all use the same 26 letters, right?  And with a few exceptions (£ vs $, etc…) one would think keyboards could be the same, right?  One would think that there is a single English keyboard with some minor variants.  Oh no.  Take a look at the following image (note, the labels are mislabeled.  The top one is the UK keyboard)


 I can count five differences without thinking:  

  • The @ is moved to where the ” lives on a US keyboard (and vice versa).
  • The enter key is larger
  • the \ and | key is moved next to the Z and left shift key.
  • The left shift key is smaller
  • There’s a goofy double intertwined S where the ~ key was

The differences aren’t just in adding the Euro symbol, etc…  There’s more to it.  Does anyone know why there is such a difference between US and UK keyboards?

[Update 2014-01-21 07:44:54] For more information (and differences) check out the Wikipedia entry for US and UK keyboards

Image from silvertd via flickr


We all want to be rich, right?  But, it seems, that no one can get ahead, right?  No matter how much you skrimp and save and do without, you never have extra at the end of the month, right?  Then along comes a report like this:  85 people have 1/2 the wealth on all the earth.  Well, that’s the problem, isn’t it?  You can’t get ahead because **they** have it all.  If **they** wouldn’t have so much you could have more.  It isn’t fair that **they** have so much.  What they lose in a rounding error could fund you for the rest of your life.

Have I got the thinking right?

The next step in that thinking is having the government mandate something.  Perhaps a maximum limit on what one can earn in a year.  Perhaps a 90% tax on what people make over a certain amount.  Perhaps something else.  I think that is the wrong approach.  Government shouldn’t be involved in that sort of thing:  people should have the freedom (read incentive) to make as much as they would like.  Without that, there is a limit that people can’t go beyond.

I hear it now:  so you think it is right?  No.  I think that CEOs making a metric ton of money more than other employees is just wrong.  There’s no reason for it.  Sure, he should make more; however, there’s more to it.  Remember Henry Ford?

What did Henry Ford do?  Besides invent the assembly line.  Invent charcoal briquettes.  He paid his workers $5 per day.

Now, it wasn’t all what you think.  There was some bonus in there along with a bonus for living like Ford thought you should.  But it was still enough to afford his product.  As Forbes points out, that isn’t a golden standard (Boeing can’t pay its employees enough to make an airplane); however, I think one can see the ideal.  I think CEOs have fallen prey to the “I’ve made it I’m going to get mine” mentality that is so prevalent in America now.  All the way up to Pres. Obama with his jetting off to Hawaii and having secret birthday parties for Michelle, people who have “made it” have a feeling entitlement and are going to milk it for all they can.

I think they have forgotten that there are people who support them.  Without those people, the leader wouldn’t be anywhere.  But, I don’t think it is for a government to mandate a certain level of income or earning.  Why?  Just like the government has no business telling me what I can think or say, I don’t think they should be able to tell me what I could earn.  That is for me (and my employer) to decide.  Why?  Principle.  

While the idea of someone else controlling public speech seems ok, it quickly turns south if the person doing the controlling disagrees with you.  Earnings are the same.  As long as the limit is “enough” you are ok with it.  But what happens when someone else decides you have too much?  The same thing.  The same thinking applies for speech and earning potential.

Image from jon bennett via flickr

The One Thing I Really Miss


Living abroad, people usually ask me some form of the question “Don’t you miss home.”  This could get asked several different ways depending on the conversation we’ve been having.  Usually, the answer is something like “hmm…let me think” or “not too much” or “family” (all dependent upon the conversation we were having at the time).  To be honest, there aren’t many things I really really miss about the US (I don’t call it home because home is here, at the moment).  But this morning brought to my mind one thing I always miss:  hunting and being in the woods.

I’m not sure what it was:  the stillness of the air, the crispness of the cold, the frost, or perhaps just the time of day.  But it really made me think back to the hours I spent in the woods hunting, experiencing God’s creation, and being with family.

So, while I miss Skyline Chili, Jiff Peanut Butter, Triscuits, Easy Cheese, Pepperoni Rolls, and a myriad of other things, the things I really miss are the non-tangible things.

20 Jan 2014 — Picture of the Day


This was my view on the way to work this morning.  Just getting light.  The moon up.  Nice and frosty.  Great time of the day.  It really makes me miss being in the woods.

Noah’s Ark

Noah's Ark

So I was reading the news tonight when I came across this article claiming to back up Noah’s Ark.  First off, the article is bunk.  Rubbish.  It should go in the bin.  But not because it tries to back-up the flood.  It is bunk because it gets it all wrong.  Here’s how:

First off, the Biblical Account of the Ark and flood isn’t based on any “older” accounts.  They are based on the events that really happened with Noah and a world-wide flood.

The Ark couldn’t have been round.  Instead it was most likely shaped like the image at the start of this post.  Why?  Well, that has been found to be the most stable shape and design.

Was there really a flood?  Yes.  Did it really cover the whole world?  Yes.  And the fossil and rock evidence points to it.

[Update 2014-01-19 20:38:26] Here’s a link to an older post I wrote about Noah’s Ark.

Image from adam lederer via flickr