booshink

I read a book almost thirty years ago that predicted and described the financial breakdown that we are currently experiencing, and its aftermath. I can’t remember the author’s name or the name of the book but I have never forgotten the message: a New World Order would be ushered in on the heels of a universal financial debacle.

She (the author) described the universal use of bar codes and other devices as a way of tracking and storing information (first for goods and services and then for people), the increased use of debit and credit cards and the formation and strengthening of a world bank. All this as a way to set the stage for a “one world government” in which hard currency would be eliminated, everyone and everything could be tracked and all commercial transactions would be controlled by a central authority. The point being that a system that controls the money controls completely. She warned to keep one’s eyes open and observe the signs. I have and I do. Bear in mind that in the 70’s (when this book was written) the technology to enable all this did not yet exist; it does today.

I believe that the current “financial breakdown” has been carefully engineered to create the atmosphere in which these events can take place. The movement was already begun with the formation of our Federal Reserve banking system and later the World Bank and IMF. The formation of the European Union and the Euro was also predicted in this book. There are plans already underway to institute the Amero or one currency system for Canada, Mexico and the US. The plan, I believe, is to eventually and soon institute a cashless society and establish one electronic monetary system for the whole world.

I know this sounds like a bunch of conspiracy theory bunk but it certainly warrants consideration. If you look at all of this from a Biblical/Prophetic prospective, it seems to make sense. The “mark of the beast” (some type of identification?) mentioned in the book of Revelation (Revelation 13:16-18Revelation 13:16-18 (KJV)Close

) which one must have in order to engage in any type of trade or commerce (implies government control of all commerce and currency?) could simply be some type of bar code or implant (already being used). Scary, huh? The Bible warns us not to take the “mark” under any circumstances. What are we to do?

Whether you believe in God and the teachings of the Bible or not, bad times surely seem to be looming on the horizon. If nothing else, recent events should make clear to us how fragile and volatile the system that we have put so much faith in really is. What if all your precious money should suddenly become worthless? What if the power grid went down? What if you went to the grocery store one day and all the shelves were empty? Can you survive “off the grid?” Very few of us can.

I don’t know the answers but we would be well advised to observe the signs and hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

Some shots of the Rumford fireplace my son built in his new house. He built the house from wood that he cut and sawed himself. (No mortgage.) My son, Cliff, is a very good carpenter, builder and woodsman (not to mention a world-class calf roper).

Here are some samples of paintings by Chapel Hill, NC artist Kathleen Jardine. You can visit her and other fine North Carolina artists at their homes and studios during this year’s Chatham Studio Tour.

I mowed the pasture today. The grass was thick and tall and needed this cutting now, just before cold weather sets in. I like it like that - thick and tall - so that it’s clear where the last pass was and the next needs to be. The horses pretty much stayed out of the way, as they have experienced the clatter of the tractor and the tossing grass before and were not too interested. My dog ran along with me for awhile - darting here and there chasing dislodged field mice and sticking her nose into the fresh cut grass, but she grew weary and bored and eventually went back home. My wife came to the fence and called me in for lunch, I ate, and then was back out there again, alone for the rest of the day until the setting of the sun and the rising of the moon. The sight was quite spectacular as the full moon rose and lit the eastern sky while the setting sun was creating a warm orange glow in the west.

You can really be alone, mowing. No one bothers you. You are free to let your mind wander and mine did, too. I thought about all the work that needs to be done around here and all the projects I would get done if I had the time and the money. I thought about how satisfying it would be to not have a job and to really turn this place into a working farm. I thought that I would like to have chickens and goats and grow organic vegetables. Now it’s just a home for horses, dogs and cats - and us. But that’s really enough.

I’m glad to have done with the mowing. It’s been bothering me for awhile, knowing it needed doing but putting it off. But being out there, on the land, feeling the rise and fall of it and the fresh touch of fall in the air and getting it done, helped me. Helped me forget about the mess our country is in and the bills that are due and all the things I should not have done and the things not done that can never be. Somehow the land and the air and the deep woods beyond and the fresh cut grass seemed enough. Full enough for today.

I recently changed web hosts for Booshink.com. I have used Spirit Domains for several years and highly recommend them and still use them for all my other domains and sites and will continue to do so but I thought just for the heck of it I would try something new with Booshink and that something is Blue Host.

Anyway, Friday I took care of the switch (you know, paying for it and stuff) and yesterday I moved all of my files over to the new server. The only thing I was really concerned about was my WordPress installation. Wordpress can be a little finicky sometimes and with the database and all I just wasn’t sure everything would work. It did.

First I copied all my files and directories from the old server to my hard drive, including WordPress, then uploaded them to the new server. Now for the database. I made a backup of the old database (which was saved as an SQL file), created a new, empty database on the new server and ran the SQL. Voila! Worked like magic.

The only glitch was a problem with my archives, post links and categories. When I clicked on an archived post or category I would get a 404 error. Something told me to update my permalinks, which I did, and that fixed it. I’m kind of tickled with myself.

Anyway, we’ll try this new deal out for awhile and see how it goes. Thanks to anyone who happens to stop by now and then and if anyone has any computing questions or problems contact me and I’ll see if I can help. I’m getting pretty good at this.

It’s been awhile since I have written anything worth posting so I thought I would write something whether it was post-worthy or not. (I have been on the road a lot in the past few weeks and those endless empty miles just seem to numb my brain.) I have a lot of good intentions but most of them seem to blow out the window along with my cigarette smoke. So, this is a post written just for the sake of getting words down and a post up and as a feeble attempt to try to keep some semblance of life in this blog.

Blog. That’s a silly word. I don’t like it. I don’t consider myself a “blogger.” I began using a blog platform because it was so much easier than coding and updating my site in HTML and JavaScript. I use WordPress and I like it and it serves my needs well. Actually, one might ask why I even need a site at all, blog-driven or otherwise, and one (meaning me) might answer, “Well, I don’t need one but I like having one and I can have one so I do.”

I like fooling around with computers and learning programming languages and designing databases and hard-coding web pages and stuff like that. Why, I don’t know. I never liked or was good at math (not that that matters, I guess, but it seems as if most computer geeks are math whizzes) and I don’t consider myself the geeky type. My wife says that that tendency (liking computers) is true to my sign. I’m an Aquarius. I don’t know what that means.

This is a blog, then, but I’m not a blogger. I think true bloggers get off on interacting with their community of like-minded bloggers. You know, setting up feeds and link trading and commenting and all that stuff. I don’t interact very well, even with myself.

So, where does that leave me? Why, right here where I am, of course. And I’m going to write something that will take the blogging world by storm; it will be so viral that it will be more contagious than the bird flu; it will spread so fast and furiously that it will melt T1 lines and crash servers. Not only all that but it will be clever and witty and thought-provoking and…

Oh, hell, that was the phone. Got to hit the road again. Guess we’ll have to wait ’til next time.

‘Bye.

Still testing my new photo viewer. This is easy and fun. Here’s a new album of some shots from the road.

Here is a photo album which makes use of a plugin called PicasaView that I am trying out. It also integrates well with the Lightbox 2 plugin. The pictures are some I took as I was passing through a small town in Texas. Click on the picture below to go to the album and click on the individual pictures to see the Lightbox 2 renderings. Pretty cool. Enjoy.

Just when I thought I had my bad-grammar obsession under control I started hearing the following ad on the radio:

Are you one of the 43 million plus Americans who don’t have health care insurance? Then call 123 Healthcare, where getting affordable benefits are as easy as 123. (The emphases are mine.)

When I hear (or read) something such as this it depresses me. Who wrote this and, worse yet, who edited it and approved it and how can they hear it aired day after day and not run screaming into their boss’s office and yell, “Please stop that ad! I made a terrible mistake! Someone who really cares about our language may hear it and do something drastic and I would never be able to forgive myself!”? I am not going to elaborate on what is wrong with this excerpt - either you will notice it (with or without my hints) right away or not. If not, then stop now and go back to your People magazine.

The previous example is just bad grammar, but then there’s this -

Compare Transam to any company out there and they just don’t stack up.

This is an ad promoting a company called Transam. Hard to tell, isn’t it? This excerpt is grammatically correct but demonstrates faulty syntax which is really a sign of faulty logic. No one at Transam seems to care, though.

Here’s another that just irritates the hell out of me. No grammar or syntax problems but, still, it is just wrong.

Do you know the difference between the millions of millionaires in America and you? They decided they wanted to be millionaires and so they went out and did it.

Did they go out and want to be millionaires? Where did they go to do it? Can I want to be a millionaire and just stay home and do it?

Then there’s this exciting statement by Billy Ray Cyrus promoting some new Nashville talent show -

I hold in my hand the next Nashville star!

Big hands, huh? One of the contestants has this to say about her experience -

Just every week you have to bring it.

Huh?

And, finally, a proud husband has this to say about his wife who has been using a new face cream -

I looked at her and I was just wow!

Well, he may have been just wow but I am just disgusted and depressed.

‘Bye.

I drive a truck for a living: a big truck - the kind with 18 wheels. James Taylor once wrote in a song, “Mr. 9 to 5 in your Coup De Ville will never know how it feels to really roll roll roll.” I roll. I have been reluctant to reveal that information (that I’m a trucker) on this blog for some reason. Maybe I thought that whatever readers there were who might stumble across this site might think less of me for it. Pretty insecure, huh? That’s not all I’ve ever done for a living in my life and times, though. I’ve been a carpenter, a salesman, a manager, a teacher, a sailor, a cab driver and some other things I won’t mention. I have a bachelor’s degree in Music and an MA in teaching (English). Some of my favorite things are reading, writing, classical guitar, chess and fly fishing. But truck driving seems to stick. I keep coming back to it. What’s the point of all this? I don’t know. Maybe if I keep writing I’ll come up with something.

Back in 1982 when I went on the road for the first time, it was fun and exciting. Everyday was something new - new places and new things. I remember the first time I came over the mountains at night and saw Las Vegas below, lighting up the desert or rolled down I-10 into LA. I still love to drive through the desert at night. I remember drinking with an old Indian in Whitefish Montana and driving down Park Avenue in NYC.

Maine to Miami, San Diego to Seattle and everything in between. I’ve ridden down the old Route 66 from east to west and come down Cabbage Pass with no brakes. It’s a lonely life and a hard one and it’s starting to tell on me. Caffeine and nicotine keep me going now. Used to be reefer and amphetamines. Bad food and long lonely nights. Most of the good old truck stops and diners are gone now, too. Everything now is slick and sterile. No character.

I’m getting tired of the road. Mainly I hate public restrooms, fast food and being away from home. And the traffic is terrible. Everybody going nowhere real fast. I just take it slow and easy and kind of let the rest of the world go by. I don’t get in a hurry. No need to.

The fine moments of surprise and excitement are few and far between now. But sometimes I open my eyes and see white fluffy clouds in a sharp blue sky or snow-capped mountains in mid-summer or an old country lane going nowhere or a storm building out over the Gulf and I think, “It could be worse. I could have a real job.”

It’s honest work. We’re paid by the mile and we earn every dollar we make and it seems lately that we are mostly disrespected and misunderstood. We are probably among the most well informed people in America. Heck, we listen to the radio 24 hours a day, including NPR and Coast to Coast. If you have any doubt that we know a lot of stuff, just ask any one of us. We’ll tell you all about it.

I’m looking for a way out of it (the truck) now. I ride along and dream of having a little office in town and giving guitar lessons and doing computer work - maybe playing a gig now and then. I’m good at English. Maybe I could open an English shop. I could sell footnotes, undangle dangling participles and re-place misplaced modifiers. I live on (what could be) a small farm. I’d like to raise goats and chickens and grow organic vegetables.

But I’m too young to retire and too broke and scared to quit. There are bills to be paid. And the road is still out there, like a siren, singing its bittersweet song. And maybe, just maybe, there’ll be something new around the next bend.