You've Been Warned | Ain't Complicated

Yoder, Oregon: UFO Convention

Strange lights in the sky.

Strange sights on the ground.

And that in our little community of Yoder, Oregon.

No, I didn’t see them.

In fact, I don’t know that any were around to be seen.

But as I was driving through “town” on my way to the Molalla Post Office with a batch of business packages to mail, I saw some pretty balloons out of the corner of my eye. (The right one, that is.)

I looked over quickly…and did the proverbial double-take.

So on the way back home, I stopped to take some pictures with my cell phone.

UFO sightings? -- Yoder, Oregon

I actually worked up the courage to get out of my car to take a closer-up shot:

So there you are — a UFO fly-in about a mile up Kropf Road from us. So if we see strange sights and sounds to the north of us….

Maybe I should go down there tonight and scope out the visitors.

And find out what it takes to join the local U.F.O. Club.

Number 97

That’s where the United States ranks in the 2008 Global Peace Index. 😯

And this in a list of 140.

That means I live in a country that is less at peace than most.

And the folks in Bhutan (26), Vietnam (37), Libya (61), Cuba (62), China (67) and Rwanda (76) are better off in that department. 🙄

Something seems wrong with that picture.

It looks like Scandinavia is the place to be.

Last year’s #97?

Iran.

(The US ranked 96 in 2007.)

I say someone doesn’t know how to correctly define peace.

Lemme see if the folks at Dictionary.com know a good definition.

Hmmmm. Methinks I’ll save my observations on that subject for another post.

Olympics: Something Big Coming Down?

I thought of that earlier this morning when I first saw this story.

Item Number One:

Attackers with home-made bombs and knives killed 16 police in a restive western region of China on Monday, state media said, in just the sort of violence Beijing had hoped to avoid four days before the Olympics.

The attack, which occurred about 4,000 km 2,500 miles from the capital in the old Silk Road city of Kashgar, was a reminder of internal tensions in China, especially in its ethnically mixed and largely Muslim west.

Police said they had information separatists from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement had been planning attacks in the run-up to the Games.

I wonder if this is the forerunner to a Big Event masterminded by Big Terror.

Item Number Two is more benign in nature:

American swimming phenomenon Michael Phelps slipped into town to begin an Olympic adventure that could end with him breaking Mark Spitzs record of seven golds in a single Olympics.

[…]

Phelps won six gold and two bronze medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics and will get a $1 million bonus from sponsor Speedo if he can equal compatriot Spitzs haul from the 1972 Munich Games.

I remember Spitz.

Note to Phelps: Stay off the dope.

Building With Sand

I would like to see some sand sculptures like the ones photographed on July 12 at Weston-Super-Mare (Somerset, England) beach. On that beach “the sand has the right consistency for perfect sculpting.”

In the first image is a North American sand sculpture — consisting of totem poles, bears, a hockey player, fir trees and buildings sculpted by Jill and Thomas from Florida.

Next check out this lion and “Sand Rover” (built by I don’t know who).

Aren’t those amazing?! And neat?! Those folks are quite the artists!

But doesn’t it seem kinda dumb to invest that kind of time and talent and effort into something as short-lasting as a monument of sand?

Jesus warned against building on sand. These folks build with sand on sand.

There are good life lessons in that, no?

“And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand” (Matthew 7:26).

On what you building your life?

And with what are you building?

EMP (Then) and Famine (Now)

Two stories for your weekend consideration:

A report from the federal Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack has painted a bleak picture for America under such attack: Electricity grids down, uncontrolled fires from exploding gas transport systems, no communication to summon firefighters and if they could come, no water to battle fires. All in city after city after city.

The 200-page report says Americans should look to past incidents, then multiply those impacts by the number of cities that could be hit by such an attack. For example:

To read the rest: Surviving EMP to depend on preparation.

That’s the future and that’s the theoretical. How about a look at the present?

Africa food crisis worsens

“It is actually getting worse.” That’s Jacob Kramer with the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee talking about the global food crisis.

The crisis is hitting east Africa particularly hard. War, drought and poverty have put an estimated 9 to 13 million people in the region in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

Kramer says Ethiopia is just one example. “In Ethiopia, the people depending on food aid has increased from 2.2 to about 4.5 million people, and those are staggering numbers.”

Kramer says a number of factors are to blame for the crisis. “The missed planting season in the Rift Vally in Kenya because of the political difficulties and flooding in Uganda–this, combined with higher food prices on the world market which make food prices out of reach for a lot of people.”

In Somalia, the cost of imported rice increased by up to 350% between the beginning of 2007 and May 2008. In areas of Ethiopia, the price of wheat has more than doubled over a six-month period, and food prices are expected to remain high until the next harvest in October. According to reports, the cost of food has increased 500-percent in some places. Some families have started eating animal food just to survive. Kramer says many poor families are now going from two meals a day, to just one meal a day, if that.

PA Hate Crimes Law

Good news!

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rules against Homosexual ‘Hate Crimes’ Law

Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and attorneys with the Foundation for Moral Law applauded the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for its ruling yesterday in Marcavage v. Rendell affirming that the state legislature violated the Pennsylvania Constitution when it added “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to Pennsylvania’s “ethnic intimidation” law (18 Pa. C.S. § 2710) in 2002.

The Foundation, along with attorney Aaron D. Martin, represented Christian evangelists Michael Marcavage, Mark Diener, Randall and Linda Beckman, Susan Startzell, Arlene Elshinnawy, and Nancy Major, who in 2004 were arrested and charged under the “ethnic intimidation” law for evangelizing at a Philadelphia homosexual parade. The Christian evangelists sued and the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania agreed that the law was unconstitutional and struck it down. On appeal the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in a short per curiam order, agreed with the Commonwealth Court’s opinion and the Christian evangelists’ appellate brief filed by the Foundation.

Judge Roy Moore remarked on this historic case: “We are very happy that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled in our favor to stop the Governor and a group of corrupt politicians from sneaking a ‘hate crimes’ bill through the Pennsylvania legislature. Preaching to homosexuals about the sin of sodomy should not be made a ‘thought crime’ in Pennsylvania or any other state.”

But eventually things will change back in favor of homosexuals. Such are the times we live in and the times that are yet to come.

When the law of the land finally codifies such statements as hate crimes, what will Christians do?

Cancer chief sees cell phone risks

Look, I know I keep bringing up this subject. If you get tired of it, just skip over it this time.

Cancer chief sees cell phone risks

The director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and UPMC Cancer Centers plans to issue an advisory to about 3,000 faculty and staff today about the possible health risks associated with cellular phone use.

"Recently I have become aware of the growing body of literature linking long-term cell phone use to possible adverse health effects including cancer," Dr. Ronald Herberman said in the memorandum. "Although the evidence is still controversial, I am convinced that there are sufficient data to warrant issuing an advisory to share some precautionary advice on cell phone use."

The advisory suggests certain measures to limit exposure to electromagnetic radiation emitted by the devices, such as shortening the length of conversations or keeping the phones away from the head by text messaging or using headsets or speaker phone options. It also recommends that children not use cell phones except in emergencies.

A child's developing organs "are the most likely to be sensitive to any possible effects of exposure," according to the document.