Merry Christmas

May the day

be filled

with

Joy and Blessings to All

15° and falling again

We appear to have bottomed out at 1°F and as I looked at my digital thermometer it dropped from 15.1° to 14.9° and the sun is shrouded behind the gray clouds again. That may be a good thing.

When it is clear, as it was most of last night and through mid-day, radiational cooling makes the temperatures drop more. Although with such a cold air mass, there's little warmth to lose. As usual the optimistic weatherman forecast warmer tomorrow. When the high is barely freezing, I have trouble calling it warmer.

Brrr And Winter Starts Tomorrow?

It is a balmy 2^o F and according to the National Weather Service

WIND CHILL INDICES THIS MORNING RANGING FROM AROUND 10 BELOW, TO NEAR 15 BELOW ZERO MAY BE EXPECTED

which isn't really conducive to my crawling out from under the covers. But the lure of a caffeine fix did the trick. My plans include some work on the site which lead me to notice a headline (on the recently added 7AM New Feed -their link) Charges Against Turkish Patriarch Dropped (as reported by Newsday.)

It caught my eye since a branch of the family is Greek Orthodox and knew even from the headline it would involve their church. Greece, Turkey and Cypress are the Mediterranean version of the Irish, English, Protestant, Catholic troubles with a longer history and a tad less recent violence. The sad part is this a dispute between two Christian communities that found its way into the secular court of a predominantly Muslim country.

The bright note is Turkey is demonstrating that a Muslim nation can be secular and wise enough to rise above this squabble, particularly when it involves Greek and Bulgarian prelates. To put it into historical perspective

The Ecumenical Patriarchate dates from the Orthodox Greek Byzantine Empire, which collapsed when the Muslim Ottoman Turks conquered the Byzantine Empire of Constantinople, today's Istanbul, in 1453.

Naturally, the lawyers for each side had the exact opposite takes on the outcome.

Just poking my head in

Merry Christmas
Buon Natale
Felices Navidad

Okay, so I'm a bit early. Just don't misread this as foreshadowing any New Year's resolution like 'Being more prompt and attentive' because I am still working on 2002's 'Resolve to do less and goof off more' and making progress. Granted it is slow going.

Actually, I've been going through a Zen phase. 'Today, I will be a rock. Fears and worries rage like wind and water, but cannot move me.' Okay, I hear you thinking 'what a blockhead' but it doesn't move me. Soon I should move on to being water, being a rock is murder on your joints.

Website Weather Advisory: expect a flurry of activity as the winter solstice approaches, conditons are likely to remain changeable throughout the season. Surfers are cautioned about relying on deep links and Bookmarks should be made only on suggested pages or to the top level Domains.

Pithy quotes:

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

To grow is to change. To become perfect is to have changed often.

Moving

This won't mean anything much to most, but the blog is now being served up to you from a different location, some web space I am already paying to use. The move is not to indicate that I am unhappy with Blogger.com or Blogspot.com in any way.

To the contrary, it is a minimal way (short of me paying them a fee) for me to lessen their server load. In the next few weeks you will be seeing guides to using their free Blog services on my site. It has been a slow part of the process of answering the query about making a website.

The Internet provides a wide variety of good, free (or minimally ad supported) and simple ways to communicate and express yourself. Exploring the possibilities and hopefully opening doors for my friends has always been a driving force to my project.

The Marine

I don't FWD emails; but, at times, one is worth repeating. This came to me today.

This is a poem being sent from a Marine to his Dad. For those who take the time to read it, you'll see a letter from him to his Dad at the bottom. It makes you truly thankful for not only the Marines, but ALL of our troops.

THE MARINE

We all came together
Both young and old
To fight for our freedom,
To stand and be bold.

In the midst of all evil,
We stand our ground,
And we protect our country
From all terror around.

Peace and not war,
Is what some people say.
But I'll give my life,
So you can live the American way.

I give you the right
To talk of your peace.
To stand in your groups,
and protest in our streets.

But still I fight on,
I don't bitch, I don't whine.
I'm just one of the people
Who is doing your time.

I'm harder than nails,
Stronger than any machine.
I'm the immortal soldier,
I'm a U.S. MARINE!

So stand in my shoes,
And leave from your home.
Fight for the people who hate you,
With the protests they've shown.

Fight for the stranger,
Fight for the young.
So they all may have,
The greatest freedom you've won.

Fight for the sick,
Fight for the poor.
Fight for the cripple,
Who lives next door.

But when your time comes,
Do what I've done.
For if you stand up for freedom,
You'll stand when the fight's done.

By: Corporal Aaron M. Gilbert, US Marine Corps
USS SAIPAN,PERSIAN GULF

March 23, 2003

Hey Dad,

Do me a favor and label this "The Marine" and send it to everybody on your email list. Even leave this letter in it. I want this rolling all over theU.S. I want every home reading it. Every eye seeing it. And every heart to feel it. So can you please send this for me? I would but my email time isn't that long and I don't have much time anyway. You know what Dad? I wondered what it would be like to truly understand what JFK said in his inaugural speech.

"When the time comes to lay down my life for my country, I do not cower from this responsibility. I welcome it."

Well, now I know. And I do. Dad, I welcome the opportunity to do what I do. Even though I have left behind a beautiful wife, and I will miss the birth of our first born child, I would do it 70 times over to fight for the place that God has made for my home. I love you all and I miss you very much. I wish I could be there when Sandi has our baby, but tell her that I love her,and Lord willing, I will be coming home soon. Give Mom a great big hug from me and give one to yourself too.

Aaron

Thank you, Aaron and all our soldiers and your families. You are in our hearts and prayers.