Ontario Empoblog

We ran into her before - actually, a couple of times. Before the whole ballyhoo about Kentucky state government employee restrictions on web surfing, Jill Midkiff's name popped up before. Cult of Mac links to a c|net article : State legislatures and tax officials, eager to find new ways to boost government spending and curb budget shortfalls, are eyeing the burgeoning market for digital downloads as a potentially lucrative source of revenue. A CNET News.com analysis shows that 15 states and the District of Columbia now tax downloads of music, movies and electronic books. Some high-tax states such as California do not levy the same charge on iTunes downloads, but that could soon change.... Digital sales of music tripled from 2004 to 2005, leaping from $400 million to $1.1 billion worldwide, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, a trade association known as IFPI. The U.S. recording industry estimates that domestic sales totaled $503 million last y...

Two women. Two musical stars. Two people who have touched the lives of countless millions. I wrote about them before - Enya and Lindsay Lohan. The flower-covered elitist tsk me, saying, "Posh. We do not listen to Kissimmee-manufactured pop claptrap. We listen to genuine artists." The pop fans tsk me, saying, "Who cares about some old Irish woman? Was she found partying in Miami late one night?" Yet Enya and Lindsay Lohan must be considered together, in the same way that Brian Eno and Slim Whitman should be considered together (though hopefully not for the same reason ). I was going to tell you what appaloosa23 said about these two, but this particular blog has a prompt script that locks everything up. Nice. Maybe Ernst & Young will give you an award . Empyrean Dream, in a long post, touches on both artists : I have yet to expound fully on my liking for The Parent Trap. Since I seem more loquacious today, it shall begin hence. The Parent Trap is a testament to ...

Remember how Hyles Anderson College offered a course of study in Marriage and Motherhood ? Well, I just double-checked their catalog to see if they offer a course of study in Fatherhood. There is none; in fact, the word "fatherhood" is not mentioned a single time in their catalog. Perhaps the college believes that virgin births didn't cease with Mary. Seriously, the college takes great trouble to train mothers, but doesn't believe that fathers need training at all. (Similarly, I didn't see any coursework for men to ensure that they have happy marriages; the job falls to the women.) I discussed the relationship between husbands and wives in a recent post in Word Search. For those who don't know, several of us are taking turns posting about chapters in the New Testament. One day I got to write about Ephesians 5. I skipped over most of the chapter and went right to one of the most controversial verses - verse 22 . Ephesians 5:22 (New International Version) New ...

Years and years ago, my Tripod website received the Crooked Door Award (see archived list here , and note that many of the winners are Canadian - so it may have been my name, rather than my MIDI prowess, which helped me secure this award). And I was (and am) truly proud of it, while recognizing that said award makes no difference to many billions of people. Ernst & Young, who is a bigger fish than the Crooked Door empire, recently bestowed an award that has attracted some attention. Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 6, 2006 — Ernst & Young LLP today announced the winners of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2006 award in the Minnesota and Dakotas region. This year’s award winners were recognized at a special 20th anniversary gala event. All of the award winners were selected by an independent panel of judges composed of area leaders from business, academic and civic organizations. The Minnesota and Dakotas Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2006 award winner...

Blogpatrol has been somewhat stable lately, so this is a good time to figure out why people are coming here. christopher nance (Google) No new trial date has been publicized. michelle lissel (Google) Michelle is alive and well and reporting from Germany. Just saw her on "Ticket to Germany" last night, filing a report. "bluegrass institute" (Google) There's a related story that, as a regular contributor to Word Search, hits close to home. A site dedicated to Bible study was included on a government "blacklist" of Internet pages blocked to state employees in an effort by administrators to boost workers' efficiency. State officials had also blocked employees' access to other Web sites including at least three Jewish-related sites, newspaper blogs and the University of Kentucky's Institute for Rural Journalism.... A Finance Cabinet spokeswoman said last week that the sites were blocked after a review nearly two weeks ago of those most ac...

More later. From the Hyles Anderson College catalog : DEPARTMENT OF MARRIAGE AND MOTHERHOOD This course of study is designed to train ladies to be wives and mothers. Courses in Christian Womanhood, the art of being a good wife, the way to be a spiritual mother, and the rearing of children will be emphasized. Sixty-one semester hours are required in the field of Marriage and Motherhood. Here are the courses that the ladies take in the fall semester of their junior year: Intermediate Sewing ...............3 Beginning Keyboarding I .........3 Philosophy of Education .........3 Woman the Encourager ..........2 How to Rear Teenagers ...........3 Home Decorating....................3 Of course, if you're going for marriage and motherhood the bus ministry is out: Brother Schaap has traveled extensively across America and has become one of America’s foremost preachers. While employed at the college, he was a bus captain for 11 years, starting with one bus route with six riders. This ministr...

I'm going to talk about something that happened about 30 years ago. I was in Boy Scouts, and there was another guy that was in my troop. Let's call him Bill (even though his real name was Glenn). Anyway, for those of you who aren't familiar with Boy Scout troop structure, a troop is (or at least was) organized into different patrols, each of which is headed by a patrol leader. The boy who is kinda sorta responsible for the activities of the entire troop is the senior patrol leader. (Granted that the Scoutmaster, Assistant Scoutmaster, Junior Assistant Scoutmasters, and others are instrumental in guiding, but the senior patrol leader is the go to guy.) Anyway, during my scouting career in this troop, I was a patrol leader at one point, and was even senior patrol leader at one stage. Bill, however, was never selected as patrol leader. Enter Bill's mother, who was certain that something terrible had occurred. How come her Bill hadn't become patrol leader? I'll gran...

From ABC (as of noon Pacific time): The View, recipient of the 2003 Daytime Emmy® Award for "Outstanding Talk Show," is ABC Daytime's morning chatfest, featuring a team of dynamic women of different ages, experiences and backgrounds discussing the most exciting events of the day. The program has received critical acclaim since premiering August 11, 1997. It's broadcast live Monday through Friday from NYC (11:00 a.m.-12:00 noon, ET; CLOSED-CAPTIONED; broadcast in stereo; TV-14). The View is produced by and features ABC News correspondent Barbara Walters -- who appears on average three days a week -- prosecutor-turned-commentator Star Jones Reynolds, comedian Joy Behar and television personality Elisabeth Hasselbeck. The show consists of hot topics in the news, the best experts in their field, celebrity interviews and general entertainment. The program celebrated its 2000th show on February 2, 2006, and is currently in its ninth season. The text above is slightly out o...

For a different take : "Who doesn't like the sound of a mandolin?" David Lee Roth says. "Who doesn't like a well-played acoustic guitar?" At the moment, the bigger question may center around how many people will like the sound of a mandolin and a well-played acoustic guitar on bluegrass versions of Van Halen songs. That's the entire point of the new CD, Strummin' With the Devil: The Southern Side of Van Halen. Backed by a bluegrass band led by multi-instrumentalist John Jorgenson, the singer known as Diamond Dave recorded new versions of two Van Halen classics -- "Jump" and "Jamie's Cryin'" -- for the CD released by CMH Records. Other tracks include the "Runnin' With the Devil" by the John Cowan Band, "Dance the Night Away" by Mountain Heart, "Hot for Teacher" by David Grisman and Sons, "Could This Be Magic?" by the Nashville Bluegrass Band and "I'll Wait" by Blue H...

What Martin Luther said about Romans: This letter is truly the most important piece in the New Testament. It is purest Gospel. It is well worth a Christian's while not only to memorize it word for word but also to occupy himself with it daily, as though it were the daily bread of the soul. It is impossible to read or to meditate on this letter too much or too well. The more one deals with it, the more precious it becomes and the better it tastes. Of course, you shouldn't focus on one part of the Bible to the exclusion of all others (and, if you look at the scripture references in the Book of Concord, it's obvious that Luther cited most if not all of the books in our Bible, including James). Yet we all have our foci. Here's what Good Anger said , in part, about the topic: Certain books of the Bible are valued over other books. No one will say this, especially at a more fundamentalist church, but it appears that it is undoubtedly the case. More conservative churches, I h...

I can truthfully evaluate eHow's advice on "How to Calm an Upset Stomach Naturally." (I'll spare you the details - let's just say that I woke up late Saturday night, missed work on Monday, and was not on a boat . So, how was YOUR weekend?) Here are some excerpts from the eHow article , followed by my comments: Drink water with lemon juice. I didn't try this, but I tried a bunch of other clear (and not so clear) liquids. When I got tired of seltzer water, I switched to Coke for a while. I then drank water until I got tired of that, then switched to Coke again. Eat a banana. Just did. Take ginger. Drink ginger ale or ginger tea, add fresh ginger to a cup of hot water, or take it in capsules. I didn't have ginger ale this time around, but I've done that in the past. Easy remedy by eHow Friend Take Pepto-Bismol. This did NOT work. Had to go to Imodium for help. From the Ontario Empoblog (Latest OVVA news here )

In a previous post , I quoted John 14:6 : John 14:6 (New International Version) New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society 6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Others have quoted this verse also. Son Shines : I was a Mormon for 27 years before I decided to do a full investigation on the LDS Church. Most Mormons that are born into that church have no reason to even think it may be wrong. It's easy to go along with it, as your parents and probably all or most of the family are LDS too. Nothing much to question.......ummmmmm until one begins to ask God for HIS True Word and having the desire to really know what is true and what is a lie. HE then helps you to find HIM. (SEEK HIM and there you shall find HIM!).... I actually set out to become the "Temple Girl". I took more classes to become "Mormon enlightened". I wanted to be worthy in that churc...

I ended my last post with a quote from BrotherOfYeshua.com , a...um..."interesting" site. This guy claims to be the reappearance of James the Just, but whether he's representational (as John the Baptist was of Elijah) or reincarnational (which would be, to put it mildly, unorthodox) is not clear. Here's his biography: At the beginning of our Common Era, I lived as Jacob who you call James. At that time I was known as the brother of Yeshua/Jesus, and I was the first and primary leader of the New Covenant Movement known as TheWay (The Way). This web site on Law, and the coming destruction of America and the Constitution, is based upon my Spiritual Knowledge and Understanding of the Laws that control life here on earth. On this web site I pay particular attention to the United States and the Constitution, because both myself and the original disciples of Yeshua/Jesus have entered into this world many times in order to bring about changes for the good of mankind. Th...

Before I launch into this (and everything else under the sun - you are hereby warned that this is one of those "meandering" posts), let me state my own views. Inasmuch as I believe that all people (and thus all organizations created by people, including political parties) are imperfect, it is entirely reasonable for someone to have a particular religious belief, yet be a member of any political party. To give some examples: It is possible for a Christian to be a member of the Republican Party. It is possible for a Christian to be a member of the Democratic Party. It is possible for a Christian to be a member of the American Independent Party/Constitution Party. It is possible for a Christian to be a member of the Green Party. It is possible for a Christian to be a member of the Libertarian Party. It is possible for a Christian to be a member of the Communist Party. Regarding the last one - some may argue that a Christian could never be a Communist, since Communism explicitly ...