http://greasy.com/baseeker/index.html baseeker's Blog en-us © 17:56:52 Greasy.com All rights reserved. Sat, Sep 17:56:52 6 GMT 30 http://greasy.com/baseeker/god_require_you_oh_man.html I was mulling over things and that quote from Micah 6:8 popped into my head. And it seemed to connect with at least 3 things I have been thinking about (thinking is a luxury of retirement). The first is the guy I saw in Houston last week who, like many of us did, seems to be going through his middle age crisis and wondering if being a CEO is really what he wants to fill the rest of his life with. I had been reading “The Shack” by W. P. Young about a man whose daughter had been killed a ... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:05:09 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/convention_night_kennedy_silver.html Ted, of course, gave a good speech (great speech considering his condition), and, most importantly, one that passed the torch from his brother to Obama. The most surprising thing was that he was there at all! A tough, admirable guy now, with a character that would not have been guessed a few decades ago - good for Ted! For me, Michelle out-shone anything else that happened. What a speech! What a delivery! Definitely a match for Obama - nice choice, Barack! She knocked it out of the park, o ... Tue, 26 Aug 2008 05:21:48 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/houston_back_watching_politicsolympics.html Been to Houston and back - a LONG way from Eugene - in many ways. Had some good BBQ though, that you can't really get here. Tried to do a little video on why a certain software gives reliable results for a certain type of heat exchanger - BORING! But what can I do - we all got to scramble these days to make it when retired. Anyway the energy companies are doing pretty well these days - updating their equipment - and that makes good business for the heat exchanger companies. So the Iraq mes ... Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:38:43 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/thou_shalt_kill_pulling_weeds.html Being retired and in between consulting contracts gives me more time to do chores and to think – maybe too much. Anyway, Sunday I noticed the Church parking lot is bordered with weeds. The Sermon was about “you do it” and I translated that to myself, “You pull them” (we can’t afford a grounds keeper). So today I was there and trying to figure out which were weeds (the tall ugly ones in the eye of the beholder), and trying to not pull flowers. The weeds had small thorns on the s ... Tue, 5 Aug 2008 22:03:33 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/nuclear_power_good_bad.html John McCain is basing a lot of his campaign these days on calling Obama "Dr. No" (assuming all his audience has seen old 007 movies), and complaining that Obama is against offshore drilling and nuclear power plants - at least, unlike the Present Resident, he can pronounce nuclear. The thing is, Obama is not totally against offshore drilling even in new areas, he just wants it to be properly controlled so we do not have oily beaches (like in CA years ago) and we don't pay for the ocean view ... Mon, 4 Aug 2008 19:19:36 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/veep_stakes.html The pundits all say there’s no way in solemn knowing tones, and when I try to have my say I hear only mocking groans. But Gergen thinks it could be so and I likewise would be prone to say Obama –Hillary! I feel it in my bones Fri, 1 Aug 2008 07:59:13 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/win_parable.html Once upon a time, a man got stung by a wasp. It made him very angry and he found the wasp nest and beat it to the ground; some wasps stung him but most escaped as he burned the nest. But he was still angry and spying another much larger wasp nest in the next field, he gathered together friends and went there and began beating that wasp nest too. But there were many more wasps and with no regard to their own lives they ferociously attacked and stung. Someone said "just leave and the wasps w ... Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:14:43 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/arab_carbon_american_carbon_equal.html Recently an article appeared in our local paper on the “will to drill”. It correctly highlights the fact that between the US and Canada there are enough hydrocarbon-bearing resources in the ground to supply these two countries for hundreds of years. The author did not even need to mention the additional huge oil sands deposits in Alberta and the huge coal deposits in the US to correctly make this assertion. And it is true that where there is a will there is a way, and the will comes wi ... Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:06:04 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/techno-dream_green_machine.html Science fantasy envisions things that presently are not possible according to current scientific understanding – like colonizing planets of far off stars (requiring exceeding the speed of light). But to me techno-dreaming is more practical, involving known scientific principles that just need to be put together by engineers into a workable and economic system. Such is the Green Machine. We hear a lot about green and of course the green in Nature comes from the chlorophyll that plants use ... Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:55:59 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/inconvenient_incredibly_stupid.html I’ve got SO much other stuff to do but just cannot pass this by. Today, Gore made a call for a Moon landing type project to get rid of fossil fuels for US power in 10 years. OK we do have to do something and we have millions of acres full of nothing that could have solar panels and windmills. BUT he did not mention at all Fusion power! The fusion reaction, which does not intrinsically make radioactive waste, is the ultimate dream for power on this earth and if the engineering problems of ... Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:44:05 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/drifting_middle.html Back when I was growing up in southern Mo., there was a saying: “moderation in all things”. I supposed it came from the Bible but can’t seem to find it. I know that is the tone of Bible teaching, e.g. don’t get drunk, yet Jesus supplied wine for the guests, and Paul told his protégé to take a little wine once in a while, it would be good for him. I think it is a good approach to life and quite often the physical world works that way too (“law” of averages). This week I have o ... Fri, 4 Jul 2008 19:28:53 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/rebooted.html (I wanted to talk about my connection experience this morning, which got me to connecting it with Jesus' well known statement to Nathaniel. - but have to leave for Church in 5 minutes - I'll be back and edit it in later - Lord willing. I am back. This morning I wanted to make a quick check before church to see if my son had answered my email, but I could not seem to get connected. I had about 8 programs open for a project I have going and had just been putting the laptop on hold each time ... Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:38:39 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/north_korean_cooling_tower_laugh.html I for one have never liked calling a nation "evil" and "axis of evil" is not the brightest expression to come from the Bush writers. BUT, when the North Koreans say they will blow up the cooling tower of a nuclear plant, AND our media call it a "key component" of their nuclear program I have to laugh. Such a cooling tower is just composed of some tubes for hot water, past which air circulates as it flows upward through the large tower. The tower has a hyperbolic shape to increase the natur ... Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:38:39 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/pride_justice_jingoism_meaning.html Jesus said to take the log out of our own eyes, then we can see better to take the speck out of our brother’s eye. Another wise man said that before we criticize another we should walk a mile in his shoes. I did not grow up as a young black girl in South Chicago, like Michelle Obama, so it is hard for me to understand how that that would be. I do know that when Michelle Obama entered grade school some schools were not yet integrated. In Arkansas, public schools were not completely integr ... Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:44:08 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/weather_praise.html Today I was sitting on the front porch thanking God for the beautiful weather, praying for Tim Russert’s family (what a tough thing, just before father’s day! On Friday the 13th!), and praying for my kids and grand kids, who have a lot of little troubles too but not losing the old man at Father’s day (not today anyway, thank you Lord!-each day is a gift, and here I am 73 and Tim was 58!). Anyway, weather to be thankful for, and an old poem popped into my mind: “What is so rare as a ... Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:30:03 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/obamas_theme.html This tune has been running through my head lately and suddenly I realized it is a great theme for Barack Obama's Campaign: With appreciation and complements to song writers, W. Benton Overstreet / Billy Higgins, I submit this old tune to the Obama Campaign for Senator Obama’s official theme song: "There’ll Be Some Changes Made! For there's a change in the weather There's a change in the sea So from now on there'll be in change in me My walk will be different, my talk and my name Nothin ... Sat, 7 Jun 2008 16:42:03 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/days_dwindle.html "Oh, it's a long, long while from May to December But the days grow short when you reach September When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame One hasn't got time for the waiting game Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few September, November And these few precious days I'll spend with you These precious days I'll spend with you" Today was my birthday (73) and our Anniversary (31), and Dina got me an anniversary card (I forgot her's this year, but we are going to the coast for a ... Wed, 4 Jun 2008 17:04:13 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/beating_bush_reason_war.html In recognition my becoming old and lazy, I think I will double up on another article - so, with apologies, here is another one from the "other" blog: Scott McClelland’s reportedly accurate, certainly courageous, and unfortunately late book makes clear that the reason for the Iraq (so called) War was not WMD (surprise!) but because Bush wanted to follow a policy of “coercive Democracy” – he wanted to bring democracy to all the Middle East. While most of us suspect that WMD was a red ... Fri, 30 May 2008 19:22:55 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/ole_king_coal__catalyst.html We remember from high school chemistry that a catalyst is a substance that does not chemically take part in a reaction but speeds up the process (usually by providing physical sites for molecules to get together and combine). I just heard great news: there is a catalyst available for speeding up the process of converting coal(US's most plentiful energy resource) to liquid fuel (diesel, jet fuel, gasoline). Nope this is not some new exotic material - it is the Air Force! - of all unlikely p ... Tue, 27 May 2008 17:57:06 GMT http://greasy.com/baseeker/capital_memorial_veterans_shows.html It was on Public Television. It was a beautiful tribute to those who tried their best to do what their government demanded of them. The music was pretty good, the actors read well, most widows looked brave, they wheeled out some recent wounded, and told again the glory of WWII, even a little about the current madness, and lots of brass on stage with the Marine Band(great group), and Collen Powell appeared, probably still sad about the snow job they had done on him. BUT where were they? - w ... Mon, 26 May 2008 01:57:57 GMT