Whether or not you believe in self-defence, Surviving in Argentina's post on a home invasion reminds us all to be careful when answering the door.

What I've Been Reading - February Week 1

Here's an excerpt from James Corbett's The WHO Global Tax Proposals which I hope intrigues you to click on the whole article:

In 1996, the Philippine Medical Association concluded that tetanus vaccines administered as a part of a WHO vaccination program in that country contained hCG. Women who had taken the vaccine and suffered miscarriage shortly thereafter were found to have had the hCG anti-bodies. That the hCG could have accidentally ended up in the tetanus vaccines is almost unthinkable, especially since tetanus toxoids in particular have been known as ideal carriers for the hormone since at least 1980. In 2004, independent testing of a polio vaccine being administered by UNICEF found sterilizing agents had been added to those vaccines as well. In Thailand, the tetanus vaccine is routinely administered to women during pregnancy, often resulting in spontaneous abortions.

Those last two links are especially interesting.

I'm only mentioning this because:

1) Truth always sets you free.
2) You won't unwittingly hurt others or be hurt yourself.

But because the Bible says to be happy, here's another link that will put all that into perspective and that has always made the world faaaade away for me: You can watch Johnny Ramsay's The Power and Privilege of Preaching online here. If you don't have much time, try 5 minutes.

Photos - Monday 18 January 2010

At a food court in a department store with my little sister.



On the bus home.



Took J. R. R. Tolkien's little gem of a story Farmer Giles of Ham on the subway and bus for it's yearly read. Fresh all over again.

If anyone knows where to read it online, preferably illustrated, let me know in the comments and I'll put a link here.

Photos - Sunday 17 January 2010

Photos - Sunday 10 January 2010

The Great Global Warming Swindle Part 1 - ESL

A break from the back posts I'm trying to get caught up on ...

January and February are usually the coldest months here in Taiwan. Every winter I have to live with the constant pain of cold in my hands while typing. But this year I can't remember it happening once, and February 10 I went to bed with my windows wide open and no cover though it got nippy in the early morning. This has never happened to me in the past decade. All the next day was too hot even for the spring weather that will show up in March and we even turned the fan on. I don't like to think what the coming summer is going to feel like.  Today as I write this it's turned cold again and the weather is supposed to fall 10 degrees Celsius. Never thought I'd hurrah for that.

So is it man-made CO2 or a natural sun cycle causing climate change? I incline toward the latter because:

1) According to The Great Global Warming Swindle video, temperature leads CO2 with an 800 year lag to show which one changes first. The sun cycle heats the earth, which gradually warms the oceans, releasing their CO2. The heat releases the CO2, the CO2 doesn't cause the heat.

2) Animals and bacteria put out 150 gigatonnes of CO2 every year compared to a mere 6.5 gigatonnes due to humans. Decaying leaves are supposed to put out an even larger amount, and dwarfing all of that is the CO2 put out by the oceans.

So we can shut down every factory and economy and it's not going to stop the much huger amount of CO2 being put out by nature. I still hate pollution though ... do I have some nascent posts on that.

The following video is English audio with Chinese subtitles.



If you like this film and want to use it to learn or teach English, see the vocabulary list below of some of the harder words with their (Traditional) Chinese translations. Feel free to correct the translations in the comments, or take this list for your own website.

Or if you just want to watch the rest of the videos without learning English, here are the rest of the links:

The Great Global Warming Swindle 全球暖化是真是假 Part 2
Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth" is addressed here:
The Great Global Warming Swindle 全球暖化是真是假 Part 3
The Great Global Warming Swindle 全球暖化是真是假 Part 4
The Great Global Warming Swindle 全球暖化是真是假 Part 5
The Great Global Warming Swindle 全球暖化是真是假 Part 6

imagine 設想
reason 緣故
global warming 全球暖化
alarm 驚動
propaganda 宣傳
evidence 證據
greenhouse gasses 溫室氣體
climate 氣候
increase 增長
temperature 溫度
ice core record [can't find translation]
fundamental 基本
assumption 臆測
theory 理論
moral 道德
political 政治
campaigners 競選活動
debate 辯論
criticism 批評
rigorous 嚴謹
illegitimate
carbon dioxide = CO2
swindle 騙局
media 輿論界
apocalyptic [can't find translation]
politicians 政治家
intolerance 不寬容
dissenting 異議的
criminals 罪犯
politically incorrect [can't find translation]
orthodoxy 正統
frenzy 瘋狂
shriller [can't find translation]
geological timeframe 地質時間表
suspect 懷疑
concensus [can't find translation]
catastrophic 災難的
IPCC United nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
bibliographies 目錄學
polemic 論戰
resign 辭職
author 作家
ideology 意識形態
environmental movement 環保運動
activist [can't find translation]
influential 有影響
distortion 弄歪
funding 資金
vested interest 既得利益
panic 驚慌
bureaucratic 僚官
bandwagon = popular campaign [can't find translation]
farrago [can't find translation]
censorship [can't find translation]
intimidation 恫嚇
fury 暴怒
invoking [can't find translation]
hinder 妨礙
vital 重要
industrial progress 產業進步
developing world 發展國家
cautionary 警告的
defining idea [couldn't find translation]
heretic 異教徒
inquiry 調查
expert 專家
tropical forests 雨林 (?)
ice sheets 冰蓋
plunge 跳進
cold spell [couldn't find translation]
climatologists 氣候學家
illustrations 插圖
Thames [can't find translation]

This list is only for Part 1. If you used it to learn or teach English and want to go on with Part 2, let me know in the comments and I'll do up that post. (The comments are moderated, so I'll know the very next time I check my e-mail.)

Bible Class - Friday 08 January 2010

Linda and I studying Wesley Simons' Denominational Doctrines in the art museum.

what I've been reading

Another excerpt from Bob Chapman's The International Forecaster (This would be the December 23, 2009 issue):

INTERPOL, an international law enforcement agency, has just been granted complete and utter "diplomatic immunity" within the borders of the United States, courtesy of Obama. They are not subject to any Constitutional limitations within the United States. Good luck filing for discovery, documents, witnesses or subpoenas against a police force that is operating outside of the Constitution in your own country! You can't sue them. Their records can't be searched. They are not subject to FOIA requests. You probably won't even know the name of the agent prosecuting you if INTERPOL comes to visit. And they don't have to tell you either.

Obama gave INTERPOL immunity from the Constitution on Dec 16! http://marionsword.spaces.live.com/blog/cns%211B80DAF0A76159D5%211346.entry

what I've been reading - ferfal

Here's a new website I've added to the favorites I read all the time: Surviving In Argentina. Here's how it was introduced by a subscriber in Bob Chapman's International Forecaster (which I also read all the time):

Bob,
Many people are looking for answers to the question of "what do I do to prepare for a financial collapse?" I would recommend that the subscribers read the book Surviving the Economic Collapse by Fernando Ferfal Aguirre. He lives in Argentina and went through the collapse of 2001. He describes what happened, how life in general has changed and things you can do to prepare for a similar occurrence. I have read many "survival manuals", and most end up in an Armageddon/Road Warrior scenarios. FerFal's book deals with what has actually happened there, and what you need to be aware of in the event of a collapse. Reading his book has changed my mind on many issues that I thought of as conventional wisdom when it comes to surviving a collapse. He also has a blog site with lots of good information.

As usual, I don't agree with everything on the website, so take the meat and leave the bones. A few things have always ticked me off in The International Forecaster as well, and some day I will post some percolating rants. But until then ... enjoy the good stuff.

I've already told you how and why in my 7 AM Bible classes with a few of the ladies at the exercise center the first thing we do is read a paragraph of Wesley Simons' Denominational Doctrines series.

The second thing we do is memorize another verse from the Gospel of John that emphasizes the supremacy of Jesus. For instance, that same week we got to this verse:

The Father loves the Son
and has given all things into His hand.

He who believes in the Son has eternal life;
but he who does not obey the Son will not see life,
but the wrath of God abides on him."

John 3:35-36

父 愛 子 ， 已 將 萬 有 交 在 他 手 裡 。

信 子 的 人 有 永 生 ；
不 信 子 的 人 得 不 著 永 生 ,
神 的 震 怒 常 在 他 身 上 。

約 翰 3:35-36

I said, "He's speaking so sternly because Jesus' position is so high. Think about the universe, how many billions of stars and planets. The Creator of all that sent his only son, to our planet. Not only that, but he died for us. We have to be filial to Jesus." [It sounds better in Chinese.]

The Chinese are big on filial piety. Historically, their whole society is based on maintaining the 5 correct relationships: emperor to subject, parent to child, elder brother to younger brother, husband to wife, older friends to younger friends. So if Jesus is the only son of the creator of the universe, they owe him filial obedience in spades.

I'll go ahead and mention the third thing we do in that class (and their favorite): watching The Gospel of John movie on my laptop and briefly stopping every subtitle so they can read it in English and tell me what it means.

Life is fun! Thank you, everybody that attends that class!

Photos: Friday to Sunday January 1 - 3