On this page, I will present generally very conservative views, sometimes comical opinions, pictures and cartoons, all from a conservative Christian perspective. These posts will not be mine --- I'm just passing them on from other sources!

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Summer Solstice: How and Why Seasons Change


By Joe Rao SPACE.com Skywatching Columnistposted: 19 June 200707:21 am ET
In the Northern Hemisphere, summer will officially begin at the solstice, on Thursday, June 21 at 2:06 p.m. EDT (11:06 a.m. PDT). The sun will reach the point where it's furthest north of the celestial equator. Summer officially begins in the Northern Hemisphere and winter begins for the Southern Hemisphere.

At solstice, the sun will appear to be shining directly overhead for a point on the Tropic of Cancer (latitude 23.5 degrees north) to the north of the Yucatan Peninsula, over the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

This changing of the seasons takes place because the plane of Earth's equator is tilted 23.5 degrees to our orbit around the sun.

How it works

During the course of the year, varying amounts of sunlight strike different regions of our planet. Both the angle of incidence of this radiation and the length of daylight change significantly. If the insolation alone - the total energy received from the sun - governed the temperature, we should be experiencing the year's hottest weather right now.

But the atmosphere in temperate regions continues to receive more heat than it gives up to space, a situation that lasts a month or more, depending on the latitude. A reverse process occurs after the winter solstice in December. So for many places, the hottest part of the year comes in late July and the coldest in late January.

Here's another example: In New York City on April 12 the insolation is exactly the same as on Aug. 31, but because of that seasonal lag, freezing temperatures are possible on the former date, while a 90-degree heat wave can occur on the latter.

Daylight extreme

Solar heating also depends on the midday sun's altitude in the sky, which controls its daily path and the number of hours it's above the horizon.

A northern city like Chicago can never see the sun directly overhead, but come Thursday at 12:52 p.m. CDT, the sun will attain its highest point in the sky over the Windy City for this entire year, standing 72 degrees above the southern horizon (a clinched fist at arm's length measures roughly 10-degrees; so for Chicagoans, at its highest point, the sun is just over "seven fists" up from the southern horizon).

Since the sun now appears to describe such a high arc across the sky, the duration of daylight is now at its most extreme; at mid-northern latitudes, the sun is above the horizon for more than 15 hours. And north of the Arctic Circle (latitude 66.5-degrees north) the sun remains above the horizon 24-hours a day (the so-called "midnight sun" effect).

Myth busting

Finally, there's a popular misconception that the Earth is now at its closest point in its orbit relative to the sun. That, however, is most definitely not the case.
In fact, on July 6th at 8:00 p.m. EDT, the Earth will arrive at aphelion, its farthest point from the sun in its orbit, at a distance of 94.5 million miles. Back on January 3rd, Earth was at perihelion, its closest to the sun. The difference between these two extremes is about 3.1 million miles or 3.3 percent, which makes a difference in radiant heat received by the Earth of nearly 7 percent.

Initially, it would seem that for the Northern Hemisphere such a difference would tend to warm the winters and cool the summers. The truth of the matter is, however, that the preponderance of large land masses in the Northern Hemisphere works the other way and actually tends to make the winters colder and the summers hotter.


Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Unbelievable Photo

Received this photo by e-mail:
This is a beautiful photo of a giant American flag in Arizona The photo is authentic, not re-touched and was taken on regular Kodak 35mm film. The person who took the picture couldn't believe the image created by the suns rays.

Nice of them to share it with the world! Read what is says under the picture....


For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us...go ahead and delete this.

For the rest of us...pass this on.

Friday, June 15, 2007

NOT printed in the Orange County Paper...

Here's a wonderful letter received by e-mail:

Newspapers simply won't publish letters to the editor which they either deem politically incorrect (read below) or which does not agree with the philosophy they're pushing on the public. This woman wrote a great letter to the editor that should have been published; but, with your help it will get published via cyberspace!

New Immigrants

From: "David LaBonte"

My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to "print" it myself by sending it out on the Internet. Pass it along if you feel so inclined.

(signed) Dave LaBonte

Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:

Dear Editor:

So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture. Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity. Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany , Italy , France and Japan None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan They were defending the United States of America as one people. When we liberated France , no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are in 2007 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty , it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.

(signed) Rosemary LaBonte

P. S. Pass this on to everyone you know!!!
KEEP THIS LETTER MOVING!!

I hope this letter gets read by millions of people all across the nation!!


"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke

"A people that values its privileges above it's principles soon loses both." President Dwight Eisenhower

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Your Gasoline Purchases at Work!!

Another amazing e-mail:
AN ENGINEERING MASTERPIECE

During the construction phase......

Dubai, United Arab Emirates


All finished. Notice the size of the palm trees outside.......... Can you guess what it is ???

Remember, this is in the middle of the desert....
The very HOT desert where temperatures get up to 120 degrees.....
Unbelievable!

But true.....

It is a self contained Ski Resort.......................The INSIDE view:




Why is gasoline $3.50 a gallon for regular unleaded??????

So they can ski in the desert, that's why!

Are we stupid or what!


Comments: Ski Bubai, the world's largest indoor ski resort — boasting Alpine chalets, 400-meter ski runs, and 6,000 tons of artificial snow — opened for business in late 2005.
Ski Dubai is actually one of the more modest in a series of extraordinarily ambitious commercial projects undertaken by the Gulf state of Dubai, including the world's tallest building, the world's first underwater luxury hotel, and, believe it or not, an archipelago of man-made islands shaped like a map of the world.
No wonder Michael Jackson moved there.
Not content with merely topping the rest of the world, Dubai will actually best its own record in 2008, if all goes well, with the opening of the new world's largest indoor ski resort, the 15 million-square-foot Sunny Mountain Ski Dome.

FROM: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_dubai_ski_resort2.htm


Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Kids in Church


3-year-old Reese: "Our Father, Who does art in heaven, Harold is His name. Amen."

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A little boy was overheard praying: "Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it. I'm having a real good time like I am."

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After the christening of his baby brother in church, Jason sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car. His father asked him three times what was wrong. Finally, the boy replied, "That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home, and I wanted to stay with you guys."

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One particular four-year-old prayed, "And forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets."

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A Sunday school teacher asked her children as they were on the way to church service, "And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?" One bright little girl replied, "Because people are sleeping."

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A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin 5, and Ryan 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson. "If Jesus were sitting here, He would say, 'Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.' Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, "Ryan, you be Jesus!"

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A father was at the beach with his children when the four-year-old son ran up to him, grabbed his hand, and led him to the shore where a seagull lay dead in the sand. "Daddy, what happened to him?" the son asked. "He died and went to Heaven," the Dad replied. The boy thought a moment and then said, "Did God throw him back down?"

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A wife invited some people to dinner. At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter and said, "Would you like to say the blessing?" I wouldn't know what to say," the girl replied. "Just say what you hear Mommy say," the wife answered. The daughter bowed her head and said, "Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?"

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Monday, June 11, 2007

Love in a Mental Hospital

Her'e another one I received by e-mail:

Just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to, doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have...

Jim and Edna were both patients in a mental hospital. One day whilethey were walking past the hospital swimming pool, Jim suddenly jumped into the deep end. He sank to the bottom of the pool and stayed there. Edna promptly jumped in to save him. She swam to the bottom and pulled Jim out.

When the head nurse director became aware of Edna's heroic act,she immediately ordered her to be discharged from the hospital, as she now considered her to be mentally stable.

When she went to tell Edna the news, she said, "Edna, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that you're being discharged since you were able to rationally respond to a crisis by jumping in and saving the life of another patient, I have concluded that your act displays that you have a sound mind.

The bad news is, Jim, the patient you saved, hung himself in the bathroom with his bathrobe belt right after you saved him. I am so sorry, but he's dead."

Edna replied, "He didn't hang himself, I put him there to dry. How soon can I go home?"

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Rules for the Phone


How ALL business phones SHOULD be answered!



GOOD MORNING, WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.





Press "1" for English.



Press "2" to disconnect until you learn to speak English








Saturday, June 9, 2007

Why, Why, Why???

Another by e-mail:

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are dead?

Why do banks charge a fee on "insufficient funds" when they know there is not enough money?

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Why doesn't glue stick to the bottle?

Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?

Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

Whose idea was it to put an "S" in the word "lisp"?

If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?

Is there ever a day mattresses are not on sale?

Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?

Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?

Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end you first try?

How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?

When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart then apologizes for doing so, why do we say, "It's all right?" Well, it isn't all right, so why don't we say, "That hurt, you stupid idiot?"

Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table, you always manage to knock something else over?

In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?

How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?

And my FAVORITE......

The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.

Friday, June 8, 2007

Tangled Hair

Received by e-mail:

~by Beth Moore~

Beth was sitting at an airport terminal waiting to board a plane. She was sitting there with several other people whom she did not know who were also waiting.

As she waited, she pulled out her Bible and started to read. All of a sudden, she felt as if the people sitting there around her were looking at her. She looked up but realized that they were looking just over her head, in the direction right behind her.

She turned to see what everyone was looking at and when she did, she saw a flight attendant pushing a wheelchair with the ugliest old man sitting in it. It was the ugliest man she ever saw. He had this long white hair that was all tangled and such a mess. His face was really wrinkled, and he didn't look friendly at all.

She didn't know why, but she felt drawn to the man and thought at first that God wanted her to witness to him. In her mind she said she was thinking, "Oh God, please not now, not here."

No matter what she did, she couldn't get the man off her mind, and all of a sudden she knew what God wanted her to do. She was supposed to brush this man's hair.

She went and knelt down in front of the old man and said, "Sir may I have the honor of brushing your hair for you?" He said "What?" She thought, "Oh great, he's hard of hearing."

Again, a little louder she said, "Sir, May I have the honor of' brushing your hair for you?" He answered, "If you are going to talk to me, you are going to have to speak up; I am practically deaf."

So this time, she was almost yelling, "Sir, May I please have the honor of brushing your hair for you?" Everyone was watching to see what his response would be.

The old man just looked at her confused and said, "Well, I guess if you really want too." She said, "I don't even have a brush, but I thought I would ask anyway." He said, "Look in the bag hanging on the back of my chair, there is a brush in there."

So she got the brush out and started brushing his hair. (She has a little girl with long hair, so she has lots of practice getting tangles out and knew how to be gentle with him.) She worked for a long time, until every last tangle was out.

Just as she was finishing up, she heard the old man crying. She went and put her hands on his knees, kneeling in front of him again looking directly into his eyes and said, "Sir, do you know Jesus?" He answered, "Yes, of course I know Jesus. You see, my bride told me she couldn't marry me unless I knew Jesus, so I learned all about Jesus, and asked Him to come into my heart many years ago, before I married my bride."

He continued, "You know, I am on my way home to go and see my wife. I have been in the hospital for a long time and had to have a special surgery in this town far from my home. My wife couldn't come with me because she is so frail herself.

He said, "I was so worried about how terrible my hair looked, and I didn't want her to see me looking so awful, but I couldn't brush my hair all by myself."

Tears were rolling down his cheeks as he thanked Beth for brushing his hair. He thanked her over and over again. She was crying, people all around witnessing this were crying, and as they were all boarding the plane, the flight attendant who was also crying, stopped her and asked, "Why did you do that?"

And right there was the opportunity, the door that had been opened to share with someone else the love of God.

"We don't always understand God's ways, but be ready; He may use us to meet the need of someone else like He met the need of this old man, and in a moment, also calling out to a lost soul who needed to know His love."

I Owe My Mother


Received by e-mail:

1. My mother taught me to Appreciate a Job well done.
"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."

2. My mother taught me RELIGION .
"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."

3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

4. My mother taught me LOGIC
"Because I said so, that's why."

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC.
"If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

7. My mother taught me IRONY.
"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM
"Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"

10. My mother taught me about STAMINA
"You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."

11 My mother taught me about WEATHER.
"This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."

12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
"If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"

13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE
"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."

14. My mother taught me BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
"Stop acting like your father!"

15. My mother taught me about ENVY.
"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."

16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION
"Just wait until we get home."

17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING
"You are going to get it when you get home!"

18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE
"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way."

19. My mother taught me ESP .
"Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"

20. My mother taught me HUMOR
"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me"

21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT
"If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

22. My mother taught me GENETICS.
"You're just like your father."

23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
"Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"

24. My mother taught me about WISDOM.
"When you get to be my age, you'll understand."

And my favorite:
25. My mother taught me about JUSTICE
"One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you."