kc bob: August 2016

While We're Here We Should Dance!

I love the sentiment of the saying in this image. It speaks to me of our need to enjoy life even when it is hard and difficult. Last year was a difficult one for me.. my first year of retirement and dealing with the death of a few of my dreams. Early in the year Susan Boyle made famous "I Dreamed a Dream".. her rendition of it still moves me.. I can so resonate with this last stanza:

    I had a dream my life would be
    So different from this hell I'm living
    So different now from what it seemed
    Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

I think that there is a mourning period when we realize that our dream has died and life is different than the one we imagined.. like most grief it is a healthy phase as long as it is not prolonged. Maybe it is just the onset of 2010 but, on a personal level, I feel that I am ready to dance the dance of life again. In celebration of that I give you these notable sayings:

Without music, life would be a mistake.... I would only believe in a God who knew how to dance. -Nietzsche

In life as in dance: Grace glides on blistered feet. -Alice Abrams

Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world. -Voltaire

Work like you don't need the money, love like your heart has never been broken,
and dance like no one is watching. -Aurora Greenway

I don't know about you but I want to remember 2010 as the year I began to dance again!

... first posted January, 2010

WD-40, Rifles, Missiles, Carburetors and Bicycles

WD-40 Was Invented To Protect What?

Rifle Actions

Nuclear Missiles

Race Car Carburetors

Bicycle Chains

Click here to get the answer.

And let me know how you did. I got it wrong.

Ben-Hur | ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

Thanks to my friend Dan for providing this great interview on the remake of an old standard.

My wife, Meredith, and I went to see Ben Hur in 3D at a cozy theater in Mariemont, Ohio. My wife had seen the original and I had not. She promised not to spoil the story for me before we saw the movie. The 3D parts were great!

The story centers on hatred. How do you react? What does family mean? And what would Jesus say? In the end, as any Ben Hur movie must have, we have an action-packed chariot race. I especially enjoyed Pilate's comment at the end of the race. For someone like me who did not know the story, I was happy with how the movie ended.

I could see a similar style to this movie as other stories from the Bible that were also produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey. Namely, there was lots of action. And you shouldn't get too caught off guard when a character says the right thing in the wrong situation, or just out of order. The spirit of the message rings true. I liked the moral message of how to deal with hatred.

As for the acting and the story, the story developed too slowly. In general, the characters were hard to relate to. Had there been more chemistry among the cast, this could have been a much better movie. Overall, I'd give the movie ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆. We went to see it in the theater to show our support for movies with moral themes.

Catch my other mini-reviews by selecting the Movies link in the menu bar above.

Devotions on David

Today I began a new series of devotions on the life and writings of King David.

The bible calls David a man after God's own heart. In this new series of devotions I will share a bit about how David lived and wrote from his heart.

I invite you to join me today and in the days ahead at withdevotion.kcbob.com.

The 'What About Bob' Meme

It has been a while since I have done one of these. Found this one on Facebook.

✓ Been Married

        Been Divorced
    ✓ Fallen in love
        Gone on a blind date
        Skipped school
    ✓ Been to Canada
        Ridden in an ambulance
        Been to Hawaii
        Been to Europe
        Been to Las Vegas
    ✓ Been to Washington D.C
    ✓ Been to Nashville
    ✓ Visited Florida
    ✓ Visited Mexico
        Seen the Grand Canyon in person
        Flown in a helicopter
    ✓ Been on a cruise
    ✓ Served on a jury
        Danced in the rain
    ✓ Been to Los Angeles
    ✓ Been to New York City
        Played in a band
        Sang karaoke
    ✓ Laughed so much you cried
        Laughed so hard you peed
    ✓ Caught a snowflake on your tongue
    ✓ Had children
    ✓ ad a pet
    ✓ Been sledding on big hill
        Been downhill skiing
        Been water skiing
    ✓ Rode on a motorcycle
        Been on the Radio
        Traveled to all 50 states
        Jumped out of a plane
    ✓ Been to a drive-in
    ✓ Rode a Horse
    ✓ Been on TV
    ✓ Been in the newspaper
    ✓ Stayed in the Hospital
    ✓ Donated blood
        Gotten a piercing
        Gotten a tattoo
        Been scuba diving
    ✓ Got a speeding ticket
        Broken a bone
    ✓ Gotten stitches
    ✓ Traveled Alone

Make this meme your own. And let me know where to find your check marks. ツ

Celebrating Bacon

August 20 is National Bacon Lover’s Day. A few fun facts from foodimentary.com to help you celebrate.

Bacon is one of the oldest processed meats in history. The Chinese began salting pork bellies as early as 1500 B.C.

More than half of all homes (53%) keep bacon on hand at all times

Pregnant women should eat bacon. Choline, which is found in bacon, helps fetal brain development

Each year in the US more than 1.7 billion lbs. of bacon are consumed

Bacon is said to cure hangovers

Jason Bourne | ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

After a long nine year wait Matt Damon came out of action hero retirement and reprised his role as CIA trained assassin turned amnesiac Jason Bourne. The movie felt like a retread of The Bourne Supremacy to me. The plot was predictable. There were no surprises and way way too many computerized car and motorcycle chase scenes.

Everything about the aged Bourne seemed a bit depressing from the onset of the film. Unlike the first three Matt Damon installments this one seemed a bit tired and contrived. I think Matt Damon is a pretty good actor when he has some lines to speak. In this sequel his acting seemed to be relegated to pouty stares and green scene action sequences.

All that said, this Bourne junkie did sort of like the movie and you might too if you like other Bourne movies. On a scale of ten, give it ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆.

Catch my other mini-reviews by selecting the Movies link in the menu bar above.

Q&A with Melinda Gates

I am a big fan of the Gates foundation. These excerpts from Melinda Gates' interview with Pastor Bill Hybels says why.

I went to an all-girls Catholic High School. I used to go with the nuns to schools and hospitals.
I learned that the world was getting better despite the negative headlines.
...
I majored in Computer Science. The program was mostly men with very few women.
...
I actually loved working at Microsoft. I was invited to take many leadership opportunities and I had 1,800 people working for me when I left. I believe in the vision of the company. I loved creating products that didn’t exist. I loved managing teams and getting the best out of people.
...
I ran into Bill. He asked me to go out with him two weeks from the next Friday.
I told him to call me closer to that date.
...
Our values were that someone had to be home, especially in my children’s early years.
I wanted my children to have a normal family life.
...
When I start the day before I check email or go on my phone, I spend time in silence by lighting a candle, doing a spiritual reading and then in prayer. I don’t get to do this daily, but I find it especially helpful when I’m on a trip in tough places like Africa or India.
...
It’s important that every person gets the same start in life. If you grew up in America, then you are very lucky.
However, if you were born in Ethiopia, Malawi or Bangladesh, then it’s harder to have the same healthy start in life.
...
During my visits to the developing world, I often spend time sitting on mats with women, listening to them.
I go there to listen and to learn. If I stay long enough and listen with open arms, they start to talk about contraceptives.
...
At the end of the day, I felt like all these women were calling out and I couldn’t turn away.
...
Bill Hybels: You’ve been at this a long time now (16 years and counting) and yet you still choke back emotion when you describe the plight of under-resourced women. How do you refill your ‘passion bucket’ for this work if it ever runs low?

Melinda Gates: lt’s a huge privilege that God would use me to reduce suffering. It could have been me living that life.
One woman in the slums of Nairobi said to me that she wants to give every single good thing to her child before she has another child. That sums up our work in the world.

Brooklyn | ★★★★★★★★★☆

Ann and I watched this flick on TV last night. I was greatly surprised by how much I enjoyed this heartwarming movie. I was moved by this story of a young Irish woman coming to America to find a new life in the 1950s. I loved the care that she was shown by her Catholic Priest, the owner of the boarding house where she stayed and her new friends.

The heart of the movie was about her relationship with a young man and how she came to find happiness in America. The movie also showed how difficult it is for young people when they leave home for a distant land. The scenes when she returned home after her sisters death reminded me of how hard it is to be young and away from the ones that you love.

I loved the movie and, on a scale of ten, give it ★★★★★★★★★☆.

Catch my other mini-reviews by selecting the Movies link in the menu bar above.

Bacon Quotes

Francis Bacon

Small amounts of philosophy lead to atheism, but larger amounts bring us back to God.

Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion.

God hangs the greatest weights upon the smallest wires.

Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much.

A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green.

The worst solitude is to have no real friendships.

I will never be an old man. To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.

The Cosmological Argument

The Cosmological Argument attempts to prove that God exists by showing that there cannot be an infinite number of regressions of causes to things that exist. It states that there must be a final uncaused-cause of all things. This uncaused-cause is asserted to be God.
...
Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274) had a version of the Cosmological Argument called the Argument from Motion. He stated that things in motion could not have brought themselves into motion but must be caused to move. There cannot be an infinite regression of movers. Therefore, there must be an Unmoved Mover. This Unmoved Mover is God. [Excerpted from an article by matt Slick. Read more here.]

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