Niihau

I returned recently from my annual trip to Hawaii. In addition to Kauai and the Big Island, I also went to Niihau for the first time...so now I've been to all of the main islands typically seen in depictions of the State, as seen below.

Niihau is privately owned, and also has a village of native Hawaiians living there.

A rudimentary map of the island (lifted from "Da 'Net") is here:

The owners of Niihau run helicopter excursions to the island from Kauai; consequently, because I was going to be there I availed myself of the opportunity to "complete the set", so to speak.

I got to sit in the co-pilot seat. :-)

Approaching the island of Niihau.

The village of Puuwai off in the distance.

Northern end of Niihau with Lehua just beyond it. Lehua (like Molokini, which is South of Maui) is the top of a mostly submerged volcano. It used to be owned by the same family that owns Niihau, but they sold it to the State and now it's a bird sanctuary.

Some of the Niihauans met the helicopter, because besides a group of tourists (myself included, of course) it had also brought in some supplies. The village chief (behind the wheel) is in his eighties and the vehicle was from the Korean War era.

This was an interesting and educational trip...

¡Feliz Navidad!

A couple of years ago, I was in Peru at Christmas time.

In Cuzco, I saw this Nativity scene:

I'm not trying to make any particular point by using this picture, other than to use something on here that I haven't previously; I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas...

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
(Luke 2:1-7)

11-11-11

Happy Veterans Day...to all of my fellow veterans.
(Also to everyone who appreciates veterans)


11-11-11; Veterans Day always falls on November 11th, but this year it's all eleven(teen!)s. Nice symmetry, but I digress.

There are a number of places offering meal deals to veterans today, so I plan to go have dinner at one of them. Not wanting to totally take advantage though, I'll get a drink and dessert or something, which isn't included where I'm going. Also, I'll be sure to leave a decent tip.

Here's a list of places to go, with embedded links:

Applebee's
Chili's
Golden Corral
Hooters
Olive Garden
Outback Steakhouse
Subway
Texas Roadhouse
T.G.I. Friday's
Uno Chicago Grill

On a more somber note, here's what Michael Yon posted today:

That 1%

11 November 2011

It has been an honor these seven years to cover American and British troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Philippines and elsewhere. It is said that only about 1% of Americans serve in the armed forces. Many of our troops are not even American citizens. I see them in combat regularly. Many veterans are in hospitals or have fresh scars and are recovering from recent wounds. A message just arrived from the military in Kabul that we just lost another service member in Southern Afghanistan.

Many of our finest will be in combat as you read these words. They will cope with their losses and continue to fight. Mostly they are very young. It is common to meet a young combat trooper who has fought for several years overseas. He doesn’t make much money. A heartfelt “thank you” goes a long way.

They have lost friends. Many of our young veterans have been wounded more than once, and yet they are out there right now. Some have more Purple Hearts than stripes. Their strength and dedication is inspirational. Their courage seems bottomless.

Tonight, many will sleep on the ground, their ears ringing from the nearby bullets and blasts that they have experienced so many times. They have killed the enemy, and watched their buddies die in their arms. They have seen and smelled and heard things that most of us rather would not. They will carry these things forever as Veterans. Tonight they will fight. We’ve already lost at least one today, yet most Americans seem to have forgotten that many of our men and women are still out there.

This is the longest war in the history of the United States. It’s far from over. I have not forgotten. I never will forget.

Thank you, Veterans.

So far, so good.

9-10-11: It has now been ten years since those fateful events that will remain indelibly imprinted on the American psyche.




We have been fortunate, in that between our brave men and women in the armed forces of this nation and our intelligence agencies...in addition to vigilant citizens and incompetent terrorists as well, we have not experienced another atrocity on that scale since then.

Not that I am forgetting the nut job of a so-called psychiatrist and what he did at Fort Hood, or any other malicious acts by deranged individuals killing on behalf of their beliefs.

However, the point of this missive is to discuss the death and destruction wrought on September 11th of 2001.

Ten years, the "Big 1-0"; we are conditioned to pay especial attention to these increments of 10, and here we are.

Apparently Osama bin Laden is no more, and of course that's a good thing on many levels, but ultimately he was only one individual. Also, by having been forced into hiding, he wasn't a very effective leader.

Things may have improved in our struggle with extremist Islam, though there are still plenty of adherents to that ideology who still want to see the "Great Satan" brought to its knees. In case you missed the memo, that would be we decadent Americans with our freedom to pursue happiness.

So, lest we become complacent due to our relative good fortune during the past decade, let us not forget that there are still those who would like to see us killed in vast numbers. Millions, even.

In the words of what I consider to be the most pertinent quote regarding the situation:

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -George Santayana

Keep it in mind...

Previous posts on this subject:
2006 - Jeanette...
2007 - Dwelling on the past...
2008 - Don't forget...
2009 - Once upon a time...
2010 - Remember!!!

Hot enough for you?

Thirty years (or so) ago, Stevie Wonder put out an album entitled "Hotter Than July"; most notably, it included "Master Blaster (Jammin')". But I digress.

Earlier this month I was in Alaska, where the temperatures were (much!) more to my liking.

Here are some views from where I spent the week:






I'm wishing that I was still there...and looking forward to spending all of my Summers there in a few years.

A hair-razing tale! (Part II)

The picture is to illustrate my long hair...which is no more.

I wrote over 5 years ago on my practice of donating to "Locks Of Love", which is something that I have continued to do every so often in the intervening years, but my final donation is in an envelope waiting to be mailed to them; I've decided to keep my hair short now, so that (as the saying goes) is that.

I'm still a proponent of the "Locks Of Love" organization, I just got tired of dealing with the long hair.

Update!!!

A picture of the new short-haired me and a Facebook friend:


The picture was taken on 7-9-11 in downtown Anchorage, AK...

Happy...ending?

Or new beginning? That's a personal decision.

"On the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, 'Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.'" -Luke 24:1-6

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." --British author C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

"I still can't help wondering how we can explain away what to me is the greatest miracle of all and which is recorded in history. No one denies there was such a man, that he lived and that he was put to death by crucifixion. Where...is the miracle I spoke of? Well consider this and let your imagination translate the story into our own time - possibly to your own home town. A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father's shop. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of his father's shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside, walking from place to place, preaching all the while, even though he is not an ordained minister. He never gets farther than an area perhaps 100 miles wide at the most. He does this for three years. Then he is arrested, tried and convicted. There is no court of appeal, so he is executed at age 33 along with two common thieves. Those in charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing - the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial place for him so he is interred in a borrowed tomb. End of story? No, this uneducated, property-less young man has, for 2,000 years, had a greater effect on the world than all the rulers, kings, emperors; all the conquerors, generals and admirals, all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who have ever lived - all of them put together. How do we explain that - unless He really was what He said He was?" -Ronald Reagan

I copied the above text from the most recent edition of the Patriot Post. There's another link (or two) in the left hand column of this blog.

I consider it very compelling that all but one of Jesus' Apostles were martyred rather than recanting their testimony about Him. They could have had their lives spared by saying that the things they'd been preaching about Him were not true...but they would not do so. Only the Apostle John was spared, although he was sent into exile on the island of Patmos, where he wrote his Revelation. But that's another story...