The Peaceful Gnome

Those "traffic control lights" or "stop lights" as they are sometimes called, when combined with automatic red light cameras, have proven, over and over again to be cash cows for cities and deadly for drivers.  Here is yet another example of the result of this murderous government greed: 8/20/2010 Red Light Cameras Increase Accidents in Baytown, Texas Accidents increased 40 percent one year after red light cameras went live in Baytown, Texas. After a year of use, red light cameras have failed to deliver the promised safety benefits in Baytown, Texas. The Houston suburb activated the majority of its cameras on July 13, 2008. Since then, the number of accidents at eight camera locations has increased 40 percent, contrary to predictions from city officials. The increase in accidents has not been in minor "fender benders," as is frequently claimed by photo ticketing advocates. Rather, the number of collisions resulting in an injury jumped 75 per...

I found a link to this blog called " Laptop and a Rifle " on the " Tiny House Design " blog.  I mention it here because the author has this as his bio:  " My name is Ryo Chijiiwa. I'm a biologically Japanese, culturally American, Germany-raised, socially liberal, politically independent, gun-totin', code writin' dude who likes to chill on his 60 acres of vacant land ."  Which I think makes him the perfect example of a Typical Californian , though I doubt all of those anti-Californians out there in American would recognize the fact.  :-)  Check out his blog it's pretty fun reading. Posted via email from The Angry Gnome

From Russel Moore , a Baptist, a more articulate discussion of the silliness of Christians going along with Glenn Beck and speaking of "Hope, Faith...etc."  Read the whole thing here. God, the Gospel, and Glenn Beck — Sunday, August 29th, 2010 — A Mormon television star stands in front of the Lincoln Memorial and calls American Christians to revival. He assembles some evangelical celebrities to give testimonies, and then preaches a God and country revivalism that leaves the evangelicals cheering that they’ve heard the gospel, right there in the nation’s capital. The news media pronounces him the new leader of America’s Christian conservative movement, and a flock of America’s Christian conservatives have no problem with that. If you’d told me that ten years ago, I would have assumed it was from the pages of an evangelical apocalyptic novel about the end-times. But it’s not. It’s from this week’s headlines. And...

via johndennis2010.com Dennis is not in my district but this rally might get me to skip the Whiskey tasting at the Scottish games, no one else sounded like they wanted to go anyway... Maybe I'll take Serenity for a civics lesson :-) Posted via email from The Angry Gnome

Aw man, I should have used this version in the first place... just pretend I did :-) Posted via email from Our Family Blog

Posted via email from Our Family Blog

From Father Hollywood: The above video is a high-energy introduction to the Book of Concord by the Rev. Jonathan Fisk, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Springfield, PA. But be very careful. It's like watching a video of Camille Paglia animated by Nickelodian and played at three times the normal speed. So, if you are over 30, I would advise taking precautions. Watch in short (perhaps one minute snippets). Pastor Fisk is kinetic. His presentation is along the lines of a 2 am Red Bull fueled rave. And if you don't understand what I just wrote, you might want to avoid this video entirely, as your head could quite possibly explode. As for me, I'm a pastor. I can handle it - though it drains me. But I'm a trained professional and shamelessly make use of espresso. In all seriousness, Pr. Fisk is a great communicator of traditional, confessional Lutheranism to an age demographic in dire need of real evangelical catholic theology. So, watch at your own ris...

Yesterday I hiked at Del Valle: Here I am at the lake getting ready to hike: Here I am on the steep Squirrel Gulch Trail:   And here I am on an old cattle chute at the top of the ridge :-) Posted via email from Our Family Blog

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I'm off riding my bike. Stopped here for a rest and to read for a while. I'm really glad it's cooler today. 79 degrees with a nice breeze. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Posted via email from Our Family Blog

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Posted via email from Our Family Blog

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Posted via email from Our Family Blog

McMansions, monstrosities in decline Huge homes -- aka Starter Castles -- have big falloff in sales as people decide against needing GPS to find their bedroom. Posted via email from The Angry Gnome

I have an Aunt and Uncle who are heading off across country for this thing taking place in the District of Criminals called the Restoring Honor Rally , which is set to take place on Saturday, August 28th on the steps of the Evil Tyrant Lincoln's Temple.  I honestly don't have a clue as to what they hope to accomplish but I thought I'd check out the information available about it on the web.  Faith... in what?  Hope... in what?  Glenn Beck is a Mormon so CLEARLY it's not FAITH in Christ and Him Crucified and it's not HOPE in the resurrection... so what is it?  "Faith" in our form of Government?  "Hope" that same government doesn't decide to kill us all in an insane attempt to conquer the world?   I still don't know what they are getting at really, even after going through the info online.  It seems to be some sort of ultra-right-wing-super-patriot-conservative-Mormon-Christian sort of thing where they gleefully confuse Chris...

Now this is pretty cool, found on the Tiny House Blog is a Tiny Apartment in Seattle. While the apartment is "tiny" I think it's actually got too much "stuff" in it.  I would leave out the TV lounge and the soaking tub for example.  This does show how much you can get into a small space though.  I recently worked up a list of discrete items that I would include in my "Tiny House" and I got it down to about 140 things, including each piece of silverware counted.  :-)  To me the idea is to keep life very simple by minimizing the amount of "stuff" around me.  Posted via email from The Angry Gnome

This is from Wondermark , promoter of beards and humor, this is most certainly true: True Stuff: Shaving as Barbarous August 19th, 2010 As reported in the New Hampshire Sentinel , June 20, 1855: The Albany Argus has espoused the beard movement. This is its argument: – “We have come to the conclusion that the practice of shaving is alike ridiculous and absurd, and that it violates one of the laws of nature. Now, our beard was not given us for no purpose – that is evident. It was created for some wise purpose, and that was to keep the face and throat warm, and thus be conducive to health. Let us look at a few facts. It has been calculated that if one shaves three times a week, it grows twenty times as fast as if he did not shave. Allowing two inches as the annual growth of the beard, it will be seen that a man cuts off forty inches, or more than a yard of hair a year, and the nutriment which supports this, and is thus wasted, might have gone to nourish oth...

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There is a site called Bible Flash Movies that uses scripture with nature photos/videos and music very nicely.   And it's clearly Christian too! :-) Daily Bible Flash Movies Thanks Mom! 8-) Posted via email from The Angry Gnome

Local [Print]   [Email]          Share     Whooping cough fears could close school doors By: Andrea Koskey Examiner Staff Writer August 17, 2010 Students who aren’t vaccinated for whooping cough may have to be held out of school. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner) Unvaccinated students could be barred from school for at least three weeks if an outbreak of whooping cough occurs, according to city health officials. Whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory tract infection, which often resembles a common cold. Cases of whooping cough, or pertussis, are increasing nationally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. T...

Someone shared this with me and the video has so much awesome photography I thought I'd share it here. http://www.andiesisle.com/creation/magnificent.html A couple of comments though.  There is a vague reference to some generic "god" in the music, I'm totally not sure which one, it could be Krishna , seen here with his good buddy Jesus: or maybe it's Allah .  I'm pretty sure it's not the One True Triune God since there is no mention of Jesus or salvation or sin or the cross.  There is a long sequence where the mantra "I believe" is repeated over and over, without ever mentioning what exactly it is they believe, yep, sounds like Krisna all right.  All in all a very nice Hindu video :-) Posted via email from The Angry Gnome

The Northern California Renaissance Faire will be opening on September 18th ( TWO for ONE WEEKEND) with a coupon from our website. We are thrilled to have EMMY AWARD winning designer and director, Roxanne Dungeraux and her brilliant shows, Commedia Volante, Serenata and Our own mayor's Show. Don't miss them on our Main Royal Garden Stage. Posted via email from The Angry Gnome

Download now or preview on posterous KEEP OUT.doc (33 KB) Posted on my door today in a moment of frustration at the intrusion of small girls :-P Posted via email from The Angry Gnome

Unschooling can be a scary proposition sometimes.  Lora has expressed some concerns recently because Serenity is not reading quite at the level that would be "expected" of a nine year old in the public schools.  (Serenity does read pretty well actually, it's reading where others can hear that it becomes a problem)  This worries Lora mostly because it gets in the way of Serenity going to Sunday School at church since there is some reading required there.  I have to admit that our Church is the one place where I find that unschooling does not seem to really fit.  This is not because Christianity is somehow opposed to the concept of unschooling, it's not.  It is because at our church the members of our congregation are VERY conservative theologically, politically and culturally.  I only agree with the theology, the political and even much of the cultural stuff we disagree on, but I don't go there for political or cultural reasons, I go there to he...

Heh... Posted via email from The Angry Gnome

You know how some web sites have ads that are supposedly customized for you, stuff you are expected to be interested in? Well there are two web sites whose customized ads are pathetically wrong and in the same way. One is Pandora. For some reason they think I would care about specials in stores and restaurants in Los Angeles. The other is CBS Sports, they too think I would like things in LA, in their case I'm supposed to be excited about meeting the announcers for Dodger games. Say what? In both cases I've double checked my registrations for the site and I have my Livermore zip code down correctly, so I wonder why they think I'm in LA? Posted via email from The Angry Gnome

I have put my bedroom into a new configuration.   The bookcase is gone, along with the hundred or so books that were on it.  The books are going to the Livermore Public Library Book Store as donations.  I've added a reading chair, the funky one from the front room that was crowding the fireplace.   I also got rid of the big monitor for the computer and a small fan and heater that I really didn't need since we do have good central air and heat here. I've cut back my "must have" books to 12, and they are on my desk: Strong’s Concordance Lutheran Book of Prayer Breaking Ritual Silence (written and edited by a friend of mine) Luther’s Small Catechism (1943 ed) Treasury of Daily Prayer Lutheran Service Book The Lord Will Answer, A daily prayer catechism The Lutheran Study Bible Stark’s Prayer Book Concordia, The Lutheran Confessions Roget’s International Thesaurus Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary ...

Well, it looks as though larry(at)devich(dot)org is working again, maybe. I'll post here again if it's not. Maybe I should just go with gmail or yahoo mail all the time though. I seem to have far fewer problems with those than with my own. (UPDATE: spoke too soon, still FUBAR) Posted via email from The Angry Gnome

Look inside a tiny house: Also there is a PBS bit on the subject: Living large: A look inside the tiny house movement July 29th, 2010 Given the state of the current economy, a growing number of Americans with ordinary lives are choosing to scale down — way down. They call themselves the “tiny house”  movement. Need to Know visited one of the movement’s proponents, Dee Williams, at her small home in Olympia, Wash. Her home measures 84 square feet, has a small sleeping loft, a compost toilet and enough closet space for a few shirts and pairs of pants. Williams says the downsizing has brought her a sense of contentment, and many others are beginning to follow her lead. Full Story Here Posted via email from The Angry Gnome

Uh Oh.  I just noticed that email is bouncing from larry@devich(dot)org due to a "Full Mailbox" which is totally insane unless someone has dropped a mail bomb on me of a zillion emails because I delete everything from the server as I check my mail.  Probably it's just a malfunction on the server.  I can't get at it until I get home to my computer because I've forgotten my password and can't log into the server from here right now <duh>  So if you REALLY need to send me a message use ldevich@gmail(dot)com for the time being.  <sigh> You know, this feeds right into something I've been considering lately, which is getting rid of my Blackberry and going back to only having a phone at the house.   I've been thinking about how all of the alleged communication these devices provide actually interrupts me so many times during the day that I can hardly think or get anything done.  Maybe less is more.  I know that I could do with...

I heard this song on Slacker Radio as I was riding my bike home between Pleasanton and Livermore last night. It caused a 2 mile long sprint. :-) Enjoy... Posted via email from The Angry Gnome

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Posted via email from Our Family Blog

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Posted via email from Our Family Blog

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Posted via email from Our Family Blog

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Posted via email from Our Family Blog

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Posted via email from Our Family Blog

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Posted via email from Our Family Blog

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Posted via email from Our Family Blog

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Posted via email from Our Family Blog

Sophia Ann Cagle said hello world at 1:40 PM weighing in at 5 lbs 5 oz. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Posted via email from Our Family Blog

Maryann is in labor... Topanga, Serenity and me are in the waiting room. Baby is about 3 weeks early! :-) Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Posted via email from Our Family Blog

From Boingboing we learn that There's more energy in wasted food than there is in the Gulf of Mexico (Only buy what you can use in a few days if it's fresh produce, only take what you can eat at the buffet, serve reasonable portions that won't result in leftovers that aren't eaten.  Not only is wasted food morally indefensible when folk are hungry and starving around the world it's a waste of energy which is bad for the environment.   Larry ) Maggie Koerth-Baker at 8:42 PM Tuesday, Aug 3, 2010 Recently, while doing some research on the carbon footprint of food, I ran across some studies that reported Americans ate, on average, 3774 calories of food each day. Something about that smelled funny to me. Sure, Americans eat a lot. But 3774 calories a day? I have family members who subsist almost solely off fried meat and various sorts of potatoes and I'm not convinced that even they hit that number on a regular basis. When I took my questions to ...

Mom's new car, cool! 8-) -------- Original Message -------- Subject: What do you think of my 2009 Toyota Corolla LE? I sure do like it. Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2010 10:13:56 -0700 From: Karen Sletten <RAINBOWJOY@LIVE.COM> To: Devich, Larry <larry@devich.org> SDC10447   Posted via email from Our Family Blog

The FBI, useless thugs that they are... are confused about the law it seems. Check out this amusing tale of how Wikipedia told them where to put their silly threats . The FBI ordered wikipedia to remove its seal from the article there about the bureau. It threatened to litigate. Unfortunately for the FBI, the law it cited is the one that forbids making counterfeit badges, and Wikimedia's lawyers mocked them in its response. Posted via email from The Angry Gnome

Here's a post lifted entire from "Free Range Kids"   I guess I'll have to read this one, sounds good... <google-google>  OH!  Lookie HERE you can download and read it for free in a plethora of formats!  Cory Doctorow ROCKS! :-) A RAVE Review (of a Book I Filched from My Teenager) Posted on August 3, 2010 by lskenazy Hi Readers — Why was I up till 12:45 last night? I HAD to finish, “Little Brother.” It’s the young adult book by boingboing’s Cory Doctorow that’s all about what would happen after a terrorist attack if the government started suspecting EVERYONE of terrorism, and most of the people were fine with this. Naturally, the hero is a geeky/brave 17-year-old and his posse of smart friends, and the action is non-stop.  Naturally, i’ts  being made into a movie. UNnaturally, I loved it.  Normally, I’m more of a historical fiction kind of gal — think, “Girl with a...

Cool.  A friend has been looking at this idea and it has sort of caught my fancy as well.  I could certainly live in one! http://vitality.yahoo.com/video-second-act-mandy-aftel-20592908 See Jay Shafer's stuff here. Also check out Tinyhousedesign.com Posted via email from The Angry Gnome