The Message Forum is an ongoing dialogue among classmates. The goal is to encourage friendly interaction, including interaction among classmates who really didn't know each other. Experience on the site has revealed that certain topics tend to cause friction and hard feelings, especially politics and religion. 

Although politics and religion are not completely off-limits, classmates are asked to be positive in their posts and not to be too repetitive or allow a dialog to degenerate into an argument. 

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Lawrence (Lance) Cantor

Jim Bedwell

Biden was correct that 154 (not 158 or 159 like he said during the debate) people had rated Trump the worst president ever. I saw the results of that poll on-line but couldn't get it to post here (wasn't a JPEG file). HOWEVER, from the ratings you could tell the extreme left-wing bias of most of those polled, although allegedly there were right-wingers and independents polled also. But in my estimation, a very biased poll not worth anything.

But here's a link to that. FDR number 2 best Prez after Lincoln? That shows the widespread ignorance of our populace these days. I have FDR the 7th worst.

About Biden's Claim that '158 or 159 Presidential Historians' Voted Trump Worst President in US History (yahoo.com) 

Jim Bedwell

I was conceived in Oklahoma and I'll be buried there!!! YEE HAW!!!!

Jan Alexander

David,  I am classified as a Michigander which is a weird name. The  license plate says "pure Michigan" , like the water is now pure.... (?)   but there is alot of water...  And have to throw this in , where Whitmer almost got kidnapped ...... I hope they were going to stop there.. ... without getting too personal..on a public forum that you don't have to even sign in to to see what crazy nutsos we are on here... 

Did just buy a trike  !  like Martha did..

Can't afford to ever fall again.

Wayne Gary

Lance,

The answer is easy.

tu gave him lots of money and A&M got 2 years of the coaches salary.

David Cordell

Martha enjoys baseball, and when I asked what she wanted to watch on TV tonight, she said For the Love of the Game, with Kevin Costner and the late and gorgeous Kelly Preston. Good movie.

Jan, thanks for remembering Martha's tricycle! I like the color of yours! Martha feels very safe on hers, and I will never try to get her on a bicycle again. In fact, we gave away her hardly-ever-used-and-almost-undamaged-from-her-wreck bike for a church fundraiser. 

If you don't have a place to keep your tricycle  garaged, you might invest in one of the inexpensive covers available on Amazon.

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

Mr. Bedwell!

It's past midnight, so I wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday today, hoping you enjoy a super celebration with lots of chocolate cake, topped with scads of large chartreuse & purple striped birthday candles that never blow out!   Ha, ha, ha!   Also, a little party hat must be donned, with feathers and streamers, having an attached red, rubber, Bozo nose hanging down for placement on the schnozz, adding more party-hearty color to your pale, scarred, though handsomely, boyish face.  When it's securely atop your thick mound of gray hair, snap a selfie to send us, please!   You'll also need to add a referee's piercing whistle to your ensemble, rounding out some zinging revelry to your big day.  Blow it with gleeful fervor, out on your front porch!  YeeHaw!  The whistle should help to make you a standout among your Tennessee neighbors, dontcha know!  I'm sure they are already trying to figure you out each day, wondering where the heck you came from, and why!   Hahahahahahahaha....

Have fun!

David Wier

David C. --

I'm praying everything goes completely well with Martha. 

and Lance --

Come on "Our Union Gap" !!  Don't you think Gary had to go through enough with that crap while he was in high school?
Yes, I was tempted to bring it up, but I bit my fingers (not my tongue - it's still both numb and painful, as is the whole left side of my face after my bought with shingles - everyone - GET THE VACCINE! It's not worth what I went through.)

Gary Puckett

David

Sorry to hear you had shingles around the face area.  My mother had the same thing and went deaf because of shingles virus.  And yes, I picked up on "the gap" reference which followed me around through college and beyond-not so bad.  It's the mature generation that remember the group.  The younger generation says who? I just wish I could sing like him.

Lowell Tuttle

Shingles and roof jobs have gotten so expensive...Wrecking your premiums...

Jim Bedwell

Janalu,

Thanks for the birthday wishes. And you can trust me completely when I tell you that I would NEVER lie about my age. Also you probably didn't know that I am really only 39 now.

All,

There is no absolute objective proof of the truths of the Bible. The only proof is the subjective experience of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which is REAL, and that's by divine design. You have to humble yourself first, i.e., realize you're a lost sinner in need of God's help, i.e. His Son. And then when you are born again, the "logos" words of the Bible become the "rhema" words that so enliven and enrich your inner life - those words become SO precious since the Holy Spirit confirms their truth from within your own body. Unlike any other book ever written since it was written by that exact same Holy Spirit via the 40 or so human scribes that penned it, all 40 men, from divine inspiration and direction. And the Holy Spirit, the sacrificial perfect lamb the Lord Jesus, and God the Father, from eternity past to eternity future, NEVER change and always have, all 3, agreed TOTALLY on everything. Like Jesus said, ".....Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.... " John 14:9 (NIV).

You only need a "mustard seed" of belief to convert. Then after conversion/re-birth, the faith that re-defines your life from then on, is from within, but it's not your own human faith, but rather the Bible teaches that it's THE faith from God Almighty that has just been given to you - so somehow the indwelling Holy Spirit miraculously and inexplicably is melded/joined into eternity future with our "little s" human spirit (that we've had since our original, natural birth), and NOTHING can destroy that combination from then on, as you  progress on your life's journey here to eternal life with the Holy Trinity in perpetuity after your natural death. THANK YOU, LORD!!

Even Jesus died on the cross, The only 2 humans that never died but were taken into "heaven" were Enos and Elijah. And of course, in hospice since February 2023, also one Jimmy Carter - he'll never die - hahahahahha!!! I think that's Jimmy's reward for turning so many, including this sinner, away from the evil misnamed Progressivism!!!

Concerning shingles, a Portland photographer acquaintance got the shingles and told me about that horror. So I got the 2 shingles shots, initially and a later booster, but then I heard a few years later that they only were about 50% effective. So I got the latest, more potent shingles shot so I think I'm covered over 90% now. And all those 3 shots were as lingeringly sore as the covid shots. So anybody who had chicken pox as a kid should get the latest shingles shot, and yes, my mother, like others, had we kids hang out with infected kids to insure we got the chicken pox when we were very little.

By the way, my great-uncle got the mumps when in the Navy in WW I and didn't rest like he should have, but helped others in their care, and was left sterile as a result of his ill-advised, continued physical activity.

Jim Bedwell

MOVE OVER, GROVER!! (Cleveland, the only other Prez to serve non-consecutive terms).

David Cordell

Happy Birthday, Knoxville Jim!

David W., thanks for the prayer. Martha is fine. Has a 3/4 inch vertical incision between the corner of her nose and her lip Two cysts removed. Each one larger than a pea but smaller than a marble. We'll hear back from pathology, but there is a very high probability that it is benign. Major problem is trying to keep her from smiling and laughing so the incision/healing won't be compromised.

David Wier

Gary

Thanks. The shingles started the last week of April. I couldn't eat due to the extreme pain for over a week. Then, not realizing dehydration had taken hold, walking from the car to the curb at Whataburger, I fell. People helped me, but then, at the wall of the establishment, I fell face-first against the wall and on my knees, really stretching several cartilages that hadn't moved for many years. I was right across from Methodist Richardson Hospital (EMS charged a fortune to drive me basically across the street). They couldn't find anything to blame other than dehydration.

I'm just now starting to get ahead of the pain which goes back and forth between an extreme headache and sore throat to an extreme toothache in my upper and lower left jaw. Plus, as I said, about half my tongue was numb  (getting better, though), as well as the full lower left jaw and gums, though it had been much more. I just can't understand pain and numbness in the same area. 

It is nothing I'd wish on anyone other than a politician - almost ANY politician

Jim Bedwell

David W,

Sorry for your bad case of shingles. I don't remember having chicken pox. But it's my understanding that with another virus, herpes, you get pain AND itching; it's also my understanding that they've developed over the last few decades, medicine to shorten greatly the ill effects of herpes. So at least there's no itching with shingles, correct? I know you (often? always?) get rashes on your skin with shingles, from what I've heard or seen on-line.

Speaking of simultaneous pain & numbness, about 7-8 years ago, I had pain starting in my neck and radiating down one arm to my fingers. That really disrupted my sleep. Then I found out about a National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association (NUCCA) chiropractor that I went to see. Within a week the pain was reduced considerably after he treated me - with super-soft kneading on my neck (it's almost like he's doing nothing - really weird that such mild intervention works). What the guy did was work on the alignment of my atlas bone, the highest bone in the spine, to re-align it to its proper position with that soft kneading. But I had that initial pain for a week or longer prior to my seeing him. I keep having to see a NUCCA chiropractor to re-align my atlas bone intermittenly when I get out of alignment (some visits I've held my alignment from the previous visit).  Anyway now I'm left with permanent nerve damage in my fingers on that one hand, such that the sense of touch is noticeably reduced for that hand (so numbness) plus if I get out of alignment, I have some pain, but nothing nearly as bad as before I saw the chiropractor for my first treatment, and now the pain I sometimes experience is mostly only in the fingers and not the entire path from neck & down the arm.

And thank God for prostate medicine to relieve the frequent urgency to go urinate - I'm back to normal now.

Ain't getting old fun?

Bob Davidson

Jim Bedwell

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

Well, well, well,

Now, as July is dawning, we are told that our Commander-in-Chief is DEPENDABLY ENGAGED, from 10:00AM to 4:00PM,  SO.......what happens to our country if at 3:00AM the White House aides rush into Biden's bedroom, to tell him that the Chinese are attacking Taiwan, or N. Korea has fired a misslle headed toward our west coast?

What kind of instantaneous response is Biden going to be able to muster? (Please call back during regular business hours........Low blow, huh?}

And hearing Jill Biden say that "We must remember how Joe has conducted himself for the past 4 years," rings hollow, since 'the past' is now water under the bridge, and the main question we have now, at this point, is how can our president handle what looms before us in upcoming years, as we know that dementia DOES NOT IMPROVE, BUT WORSENS as time goes on.  Remembering what Joe has done previously, has little meaning as we face what is coming down the tracks super quickly. 

I also heard this morning that even though Obama and Pelosi and others are saying that they are sticking with Biden, ACTUALLY behind closed doors, the BIG WIGS are discussing options that may be offered at the upcoming Democrat convention, as Biden throws in the towel, possibly with a forced effort's smack in the face upon him, no matter what Jill or Hunter or grandkids may be saying.

On another note:

I find it funny that the Democcrats don't know, at least many of them, seemingly, that it is perfectly okay to have a conservative Supreme Court in the US.   There hasn't been one in so long, many of them think the concept is un-American and totally wrong.

Lowell Tuttle

A large manufacturing company trying to find a new location (I mean very large, like Toyota or GM or Boeing,) I would be wary of the power grid in Texas.

Whose fault is that?

Basically, ERCOT and the legislature's style Texas grid....including the burgeoning bitcoin business...

Bitcoin mining will have taken up almost 50% of the grid growth for the whole State of Texas, with the ability to profit from shutting down during peak times and being paid for doing so.

I am just not sure we know what we are doing here.   

I have a portable 5500-watt generator.   Works great, but I have had it fail on my due to not starting it frequently enough...mainly during the 2021 freeze...I would like to have it "electrified into" my power box so I could just plug it in there and turn off my AC...I think it could power most of the rest of the house if I watch what I turn on and keep on.   I am possibly wary of an electrician doing that would tsk tsk me to getting a new power box, so that would be some 2000-3000.   

Full generator power is (for me) not warranted enough for just using it a few times a decade..That's as long as you can expect that 15,000 to 25,000 expense to last...plus high cost maintenance, another questionable entanglement with the HVAC/service/contractor community...

My next upgrade has to be pex pipe into the house and throughout the attic...I forget how your plumbing is piped in homes in the Dallas area.   Is there a difference in piping between pier and beam and slabs up there?  Is your plumbing underneath or attic placed?   Pretty sure underneath on pier and beam is preferred for not freezing and cooler water in the summer.   Ramblin...

Lawrence (Lance) Cantor

Lawrence (Lance) Cantor

David Cordell

There seems to be a good bit of talk about how Jill Biden is the main person who is keeping President Biden in the campaign. I am waiting for a conservative cartoonist to portray her as Lady McBiden.

David Cordell

Bob D. said: 

What is the big deal about posting AI segments? How is it different from copying a piece from Wikipedia or a Google search result?

David C. responds:

I don't like AI posts. With Wikipedia, at least there is a reference ("This is from Wikipedia"), and you can decide whether or not Wikipedia is an adequate source. With Google searches, you just find something, and you can decide whether it is valid. However, I don't trust Google to be a fair broker of information. I strongly suspect that the algorithms favor one partiulr political persuasion. As far as I can tell, AI is anonymous. Even if sourses are provided, you still have to wonder how those particular sources were selected. Accepting AI passages without suspicion is worse than accepting statements from the "government" without suspicion.

David Cordell

Lowell,

I think our pipes are in the slab. Houses in my neighborhood are almost 40 years old, and a lot of them are having big-dollar issues with their cast iron sewer pipes.

About bitcoin and other so-called digital currencies -- I hate them. I see no societal value in them. Anyone who talks about how efficient they are supposed to be should factor in the societal detriment of generating electricity needed to "mine" them. Environmentalists should be raising holy hell. The  whole idea is dumb. Any related discussion of blockchain technology is just a smokescreen so people will say, "Uhh, Ok. I guess I understand. I think. Well, maybe not, but don't explain anymore. My head hurts."

How much has digital currency improved my life? Zero. Compare that to the invention of stay-on-tabs to replace pop-tops on soda cans. Now that's technology that improved society, even if it rendered a Jimmy Buffett lyric anachronistic. ("Grandpa, what's a pop-top? Why did the singer cut his heel? Didn't he have shoes?")

That said, I wsh I could go back a few years and speculate about $1000 in Bitcoin as one of my (not-very-good) students suggested. 

I know what you're thinking: "He's just bitter because he missed the boat." Yeah, OK. I'm bitter. But I still contend that digital currencies are dumb.

Jim Bedwell

First we heard that...........

Masks work.

The vaccine will prevent the spread of the virus.

Then we heard that........

The inflation is just transitory.

The border is closed and secure.

Now we're hearing from the White House press corps..........

Joe does not have Alzheimer's or dementia.

And that doesn't include all the hoaxes, just a few of which are.........

Trump said this or that (wrong), e.g. Charlottesville, etc., ad nauseum.

Trump colluded with the Russians in 2016 (HilLIARy did).

Hunter's laptop was Russian disinformation.

Trump promoted an insurrection on Jan. 6.

Trump is guilty and deserves to be a convicted felon.

Yet people will still vote for Joe Demento or his replacement. Dems lie 24/7 these days.