Today's news: Chilean miners in good spirits

August/31, 2010
Watch the recent CNN video, and pray for the rescue efforts to go as planned. The latest video shows the faces of so of those trapped underneath. It makes the whole rescue effort more personal to each of us. Lord we thank you for your goodness and for showing us the right way to live our lives.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/08/31/chile.miners

The world is helping. Thanks be to God.

UK news reports the Chilean men trapped in the mines can now be seen on a video they took. They are singing and are in good spirits. Thank God.

This shows they understand the importance of focusing on what is important and what is not important. My prayer is this: Lord keep them in your mercy and instill into their minds what is important and and how important life is.


How will they survive?

The Chilean miners will survive because they are exercising their free will given to them by their Creator. When a catastrophe of this kind strikes and the odds against survival are slim, something inherent in mankind's nature kicks in. No longer do they assume they have control of their lives exclusively, they now know they are being tested as to their survival skills and their belief that they are not abandoned.

When the world first heard of their plight, and after nine days underground, their survival skills and their challenges have already been proven: They had sense enough to ration a two-days supply of food and had already survived nine days on this meager supply. That alone say those trapped there are not fools, or are fool-hardy. The next blow, hearing that although they were being monitored and plans were being made to rescue them, it would most likely take four months to get them out, did not seem to turn off their hope and determination.

Headlines: Trapped Chilean miners

Trapped Chilean miners have been told they may not be rescued for four months. Can you just imagine how much will power to survive this is going to take? Cooped up in a small darkened area with only a small amount of food, no light, and the possibility of all kind so other problems developing because of so many living so closely together. It is mind boggling.

Yet the human spirit when directed toward its own salvation knows no bounds. The question now being asked is how to help. What first comes to mind is prayer. Let's continually seek to pray that hope in huge quantities will find its way into their minds and hearts. And let's pray that each will individually get in touch with the infinite within themselves.

Lord, help each one of them get through this day, August, 26, 2010. Let them know that time is nothing when compared to eternity.


One blogger commenting on the story, compared the miners and their attitude to the WV Sago mine disaster:

"The Lord moves in mysterious ways,” the best friend of one of the miners, and a miner himself, told me outside Sago church, when he heard the news.

I imagine the Chilean miners will have the same faith to help them; combined with the extraordinary toughness of all miners across the world."

The Wall Street Journal writes about their stamina and the way they were so well organized. It is evident that He is already with him. Let us all join our prayers and cease our grumbling about our puny annoyances and petty concerns. When faced with such mammoth problems as these men face, what would we do?

Headlines: Foot care

Foot care is important. It begins long before that first aching and burning sensation tells one it is time to get off them and give them a rest. Feet bear the burden for the rest of the body, and for that purpose, tough skin and strong connective tissue and joints cover them, but even that is not always enough to keep them in good working order.

What are some of the recent news items concerning the health of the feet?
Medline Plus recommends "

"Your foot health can be a clue to your overall health. For example, joint stiffness could mean arthritis. Tingling or numbness could be a sign of diabetes. Swelling might indicate kidney disease, heart disease or high blood pressure."

The above quote from this medical news site seems simple enough, but reread it a second time and you see how profound it is. Feet not only carry bodies around, they give them clues as to what is wrong with the cargo they carry! Pain is simply that, signals that tell of what is wrong with the body, but when it is foot pain the diagnosis is already started. Still, a good idea is to talk to your doctor about it. It is one thing to listen to your feet talk back to you by being when not up to par, it is quite another to jump to conclusions.

Today's headline: Aging

How to age gracefully
The subject of aging, for some well known reason, interests me. How do we go about our daily chores when we are less adept at doing them than say, five years ago. We just do, that's all. When we no longer are able to walk two miles to town, run around the block, or even walk to the store, we do something else. We sit down and write about the problem. That, essentially is what I am doing.

Therefore today's headlines are not about the latest gadgets the youngsters find so fascinating, but are instead the thoughts and actions about the older members of our society. This thought came to me particularly when I noticed that my How Guide had not attracted any notice. Therefore I set out to advertise the importance of old age.

This morning at Helium I wrote an article, How to age gracefully to see if that would awaken anyone to the importance of thinking about the subject.

How to adjust to old age: Old age is not a time for mourning, neither is it a time of denial. It is what it is, a time in life when one is somewhat physically unable to do what one would like to do. This situation demands reality, acceptance, moderation, appreciation, humor, and a willing to share what one has learned.

Not all who have grown old in body is mentally capable of accepting the fact that the time is fast approaching when they will die. Accepting this is a must. The fear of it must be removed from one's thoughts so that it no longer will be a stumbling block to the wonder and joy of finally realizing that this journey has been for a purpose and cause benefiting the world at large.

Since old age comes on gradually, it is best to get acquainted with it while much younger. How is that done? By mentally becoming aware that older people are not to be pitied and, sometimes even shunned, but they are, in some instances, walking encyclopedias of history. Learn from them.

Today's news: Thoughts on windmills, medieval and modern

Windmills, Then and now

Modern windmills are different from the large clunky ones that inspired Miguel de Cervantes of Spain in the early 1600s to write a novel about a mentally deranged man, Don Quixote, who set out on a mission to fight windmills. These he mistook for enemies. Although those of today are different, they are similar to the older ones in that they have blades, rise high in the atmosphere and work in much the same way. Energy is derived by the force of the wind as it hits the propellers and this is converted into power by generators.

The old and the new differ in appearances somewhat, but not in basic construction. The newer propellers are made of lighter material and they consist of three to a pole. And yes, they are always white. To read more...

Today's Headlines: Unemployment problems

How to deal with sudden employment

It must be a shock to suddenly find yourself out of work. What do you do? How do you react? Do you do what you feel like doing, jump up and down and scream, pound you head against the wall, or do you, being the polite and in charge person that you are, react to it by calming accepting it at first, then going home and nearly having a nervous collapse over it.

Naturally, you are going to be somewhat depressed, and will for a day or so, walk around in daze, hear little of what is said to you, but reality should begin to take over soon.

Whatever, feel free to comment about this suddenly finding yourself unemployed. Whatever you say, or feel, believe me, it is not the end of the world. I've been there and it hurts, but there is always life to be lived.

In the news....
A Perspective on Unemployment

Jobs outlook...

Home Loan help for the unemployed...

Today's Headlines: Healthcare reform and Medicare's future

Without health care reform, Medicare's future looks grim

Today's headline concerns the future of Medicare. The subject has been debated almost to shreds, but the possibility of it becoming a thing of the past was one issue that prompted health care reform. That must not be allowed to happen, and it won't happen if everyone whom it concerns -- and who is that? -- stops using it simply because they can. It is not free. It may be free to the recipients, but the cost is passed on.

Believe it or not, the government does not run on an endless amount of cash. It runs, pretty much in the same way the rest of society runs, in debt.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20013064-56.html

Gates: We've been spoiled by Moore's Law

Maybe, but what is Moore's law, Mr. Gates?

Moore's law, as explained by Wikipedia.org is a law that says, essentially, that everything having to do with the computer, chips, capacity, redoubles itself about every two years. It was named by the gentlemen who first mentioned the fact in a paper Gorden E Moore, at Intel, wrote in wrote in 1965.

Of course, laws get made, even ones that apparently carry little weight if you discount rhetoric, and no doubt Moore's law is one of these. Mr. Gates is probably right on the nose on that one. He said the law did not apply to the overall use of the computer and its capabilities.

Have I misread that one? Slightly. He was referring to energy sources and who can argue with that? And without energy what good is all those speed improvements and necessities for buying the latest and the fastest? They just get dumped and set around fouling up the air even more. Would it not be better to slow down and sacrifice a little of that technological know how while spreading the word about responsible stewardship of the good earth?

Today's headline: Hearts rejuvenating themsleves

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19275-prompting-hearts-to-make-their-own-beating-muscle.html

Heart muscles rejuvenating themselves through heart fiber from another heart, sound too good to be true, but who knows what's next up for experimenting. It certainly seems a more viable method than transplanting the whole heart. The author of such news is Andy Coghlan.

My comment: Wonder of wonders. Now maybe nature, and humanity's involvement in its downfall, is about ready to turn around and undo the damage done. Where best than to get the old ticker ticking right! The creator of us all knows that when we get good and ready, we will decide once and for all, to first ask Him for his directions on the better way.

Today's headlines: Money talks best when shared!

Rich people giving away half their fortune to charities seems a worthy topic to occupy this valuable space. I mean after, all, there is no way these gentle and kind folk can spend all that money on themselves, even if they so desired. This way, they will be assured that the world will be a better place after they have passed on.

There is definitely no merit in holding on to money for money's sake. Okay, lets face it, it was probably thrilling to earn the millions, and working and meeting like-minded individuals was an excellent way to profitably spend time, but old age, or older age, is a time to find out what to do with these funds. Bravo to these kind souls.

They've taken a mammoth step forward toward a world where money regains its original purpose of being one rung above bartering. In fact is an efficient means of barter. Just how many sheep can you carry in your pocket?

Today's Headline: Oil disappearing from Gulf waters

All I can say about "US says 74% of Bp Oil is gone from Gulf Waters" is thank God. We all have been sweating that one out. There's a lesson some where in there about that disaster, and I hope we have learned it. It should be, oil from under the earth, okay; oil from under the ocean, not okay.