bierkergaard

The Mongoose lives in the part of Africa where Muammar Muhammad al- Gaddafi resides. Both are crafty, sly, and survivors. In the words of National Geographic , Mongoose are " nondiscriminatory predators." Sounds like old Muammar himself. Muammar is not as mad as we might presume...in the lands of the Bedouin, it is worldly-wise to be a bit nuts. The problem with the Middle East is one of suppression and succession. The people can throw off one set of chains for another. The Shah is deposed and they get a series of even worse and more wicked tyrants like the ratish Islamo- Ahmadinejad in Iran. and his 13th Imam fetish. Democracy (i.e. majority or plurality rule) is not the answer. Remember such brought Hitler to power If there was no oil in the Middle East, there would be no money for us to make off selling weapon systems to the warring tribes. The theological battle between the Jews, the Shiite, and the Sunni, might as well be fought with clubs and camels. I...

I had an odd thought the other morning before fully awaking. It was odd. I am warning you, but it made sense. It was, "Unlike the Discover Card, the Blood of Jesus is accepted everywhere." I think the origin of the idea was the day before after church where Lina and I ate breakfast at Rachel's Creperie in town. I had a delicious steak and cheddar crepe. It was sooo good that I don't recall what Lina had. Didn't even register, even though I had a bite. Maybe sausage and cheese something? At the end of the meal, we paid with the VISA card because they don't accept Discover. Discover imposes a higher fee on merchants...which then gives us cash back. My typical sequence is to try and use my Discover for everything, then the VISA, then the Debit or the Cash. It is pretty obvious why...I had 550 or so reasons deposited in my checking account the other day from about a year's worth of Discover cash back refunds. Not bad indeed. The VISA is paltry in comparison....

Rob Bell's new book is all the rage. Literally. Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived is divisive to say the least. Being divisive is not necessarily wrong Scripturally. Hence, the problem. Bell divides the Bible against itself and takes the verses that support Universalistic themes and tosses those that don't. So, he is not being biblical in his divisiveness. I know that isn't the only issue he takes on but it is his most grievous error. I have watched two extremely long interviews with him about his book, so please understand that I am not just knee-jerking a second-hand retread reaction here. It was painful. I am no Bible scholar and I can counter every universalistic controversial assertion he makes with one intellectual and theological hand behind my back. What is this, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader Sunday School version? I have watched him try to explain what he believes the Bible teaches and I have come away with...

The last couple of days, I have felt as if I haven't been able to get things finished. I have been dragging. Maybe it is the dreary rain and the water is making my brain soggy like a piece of toast left in a puddle on the kitchen counter. I am looking forward to the sunny May days ahead, when Pennsylvania explodes in color and beauty. Anyway, I have a system at home when I don't want to forget something. It is a back-up to my iPhone calendar which I can ignore. It is a post-it note on the corner of the kitchen table. Stuff like, "Meeting at 7:00 AM at school tomorrow." So, Lina scrolled on the Post-It note the other day, as an add-on to what was already there, "Tighten the screws to the front door handle." Here is the funny and sweet part. By the time she had written the note, she could have well been on her way to tightening the screws herself. But, she likes to be taken care of..she wants me to do it. So, tightening the screws to the door knob became the...

Sorry if you were looking for the Addams Family...Uncle Fester and The Hand, et. al. Two D's there. Watched the inspiring first DVD of the HBO mini-series the other night through our supplier Netflix, indirectly sticking it to Comcast. Yet like Darth Vader, I fear the Empire Striking Back . I know Comcast particularly enjoys when we download movies from Netflix through our Comcast Broadband connection. We are Basic baby Basic on Comcast...as low as we can go. Comcast is probably going to start blowing up mailboxes. Before watching the John Adams DVD, I actually watched the NCAA Temple play-off game on my iPhone for free through the NCAA App. Otherwise, I would have been forced to pay for TNT or go out somewhere to watch it and drink bad beer and eat gross and greasy food. I am not sure how the NCAA got away with that. I was forced to watch the same commercials like forty times and wear my reading glasses. A small sacrifice indeed. Speaking of real sacrifice, this is a poignant st...

Read this from Square One Coffee's post: We recommend using 2 tablespoons of freshly ground coffee (by weight: 10 grams) for each 6 fluid ounces of clean water. If you don’t like the taste of perfection (AKA: If you trust us, brew it, taste it brewed to that strength and you feel it’s a bit too strong for you) try adding a little hot water directly to your cup of coffee instead of skimping on the beans. Trust us; using less coffee will over-extract the coffee, resulting in a bitter taste. We’ll talk more about why that is in the upcoming blog about coffee to water proportions. Almost nothing frustrates me more in the general "Really not that important but still important category" than a weak cup of coffee...unless if it is bad-tasting, then the weaker the better. I pass on bad coffee. I would rather not drink any if it is going to be poor-tasting. Spew it out of my mouth type-of-thing. I like my coffee straight, black, and strong. I am also quite concerned, and this i...