Ron G.

Dr. Wierwille taught that the human body is beautiful and as part of the class showed us pictures of it .... nothing wrong with nude pictures in and of themselves. This is not porn. Porn is designed to encourage lust and lasciviousness, perhaps covetousness, those are the sins we need stay away from. But viewing pics to show how beautiful the body is is nothing ... its vanilla. I don't believe VP was encouraging those sins and can't imagine someone getting caught up in lust and evil imaginations from viewing those vanilla images unless they wanted to. Similarly I suppose someone can say looking at a beautiful woman in a bikini leads to lust and lasciviousness and porn but I dont think so. (Maybe Islam says that, don't know.)

Oldies...

I seem to recall a LOT more explicit pics in that class than simple nudies. Maybe you had a different version of that class, but the one I saw was fit for viewing in a booth with a pocket full of quarters. The only difference being it cost a LOT more and you had to sit there, nervously, in a crowd.

Do you think Larry Flynt is a MOG, also? At least Flynt is more honest about what he's all about than VP ever was.

I didn't NOT believe the "snow on the gaspumps" story. I got snowed upon in northern Wisconsin once in August (1969, I think), and it snowed 4 inches in June right here in Leslie and Marshall, Arkansas in the 50's. I just figured since it was way up north in Ohio, why not? At that point in time, I'd not ventured further, and knew little of the world, north of Denton, Texas (except for short trips to Wisconsin and Arkansas when I was a kid), so why not? I didn't pray or anything when those two incidents occurred and I hadn't taken PFAL, yet, so God wasn't speaking to me at the time...He certainly wasn't spitting, much less snowing, in MY direction.

I thought it just another anomolie. I assumed (BIG mistake) that sooner or later there'd be a news article from a local paper on display somewhere proving it...kinda like that shrine to E.W. Bullinger they had. But, of course, that never happened and I kinda forgot about it when deluged with all the other cognitive dissonance put upon us in the Way days.

Groucho, I don't know that the gas pump story is such a big deal, since anomolies do occur and the fact that the snow in an old perverts imagination can be very real to him.

YMMV

It's just the way things are.

Recently I saw a hawk taking off about 4 feet from the ground with a baby bunny in it's talons. A few seconds later, mama bunny was running in hot pursuit, to no avail.

I see snakes getting cicadas and my eggs :( , racoons getting ducks, foxes getting chickens, bobcats getting bunnies and squirrels and in the early fall, I've even seen ants herding aphids like cattle on my tomato plants.

We have several predators including bobcats, foxes, coyotes, hawks, racoons etc. The black bears we have are generally scavengers. They only attack bags of garbage and dishes containing dogfood.

Everything has to eat.

It's just the way things are.

Okay, Doojable. I promise to be more dignified in your thread.

Here are some of my personal favorites of Henri Cartier-Bresson...

Henri Matisse 1944

This portrait of the great painter shows his personal environment and displays his personality as a formal portrait couldn't.

Taxi Drivers in Berlin, 1932

Gestapo Infomer, Dessau, Germany, 1945

This shot is so very compelling as it displayys the gamut of emotion and expression prevalent in those post war days.

Russian boy released from concentration camp, 1945

Alicante, Spain, 1932

Berlin Wall, 1963

On the banks of the Marne, 1938

Roman Amphitheater, Valencia, 1933

These are a few of Bresson's more famous images. I've always admired the stark candor and grittiness of his work. His prints were always exceptional, although that aspect can't be fully appreciated in this venue.

Today, with the emergence of digital photography with it's post production editing capabilities, many traditionalists argue that true photography, such as this, is dying due to the comparable ease one can manipulate an image and change it. Those who defend this editing tell us that Bresson's images were all staged and weren't the honest representations of reality they were once thought to be.

I don't know, all I know is that Bresson traveled the world with his Leica and gave us images of life in his time as a permanent record for all to see.

I came across this art forgery. Art forgeries are totally wrong and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

I recently came across this shameless attempt.

In 1932, Henri Cartier-Bresson (the father of photojournalism) did the famous photograph which sold for $12,500. Well, along comes somebody who has no original ideas of their own but want to cash in on greatness.

Here is the original

Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare.

This photo "Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare", printed on 11 x 14 inch paper sold for $12,500

Okay, the following photo emerged, later, and after much study, and lab tests of emusions, silver content etc., experts determined it to be a forgery.

I'm sure everyone will agree, this is just a tragedy for art to be faked for filthy lucre.

HARRUMPH!!

I was once told I sounded like a log truck going down a mountain with the jake break on.

I was given a CPAP a few years ago, but that didn't work so well because I'd wake up in the middle of the night with that thing blowing in my face so hard it blew my eyelids open. It was the "ramp up" kind that began as a gentle breeze and ended up a category 6 hurricane.

The final solution was losing 150 lbs and starting a workout regimen. That's what worked for me. I feel well rested and content averaging 5 to 6 hours of sleep each night. That's quite a step down from my former 12.

Sometimes I'm amazed at the similarities I see when I read Rocky's posts.

Can you play "Free Cell" on it?

The scholarship I always thought was shoddy. <B>And, a lot of what was taught sometimes made me think they taught it not because it was the truth, but because it was different than the way any other group taught the particular subject.</B>

I used to think that a LOT. Part of a line from that old classic song, Alice's Restaurant, by Arlo Guthrie came to mind frequently when I'd hear teachings..."A third posibility we hadn't counted upon" (That phrase always went thru my head in Arlo's voice and I NEVER, EVER attributed it to "the adversary"). It became obvious that we were being conditioned to accept these arbitrary "new lights" of wit, wisdom and brilliant research so as to believe we were privy to some inside information unavailable to the unwashed masses. I got this early on, but it became VERY obvious during the LCM years. It was a typical ploy used by many organizations and frequently by popular media to make people feel informed without actually informing them.

You're the first person that I've seen to express this.

As for buying into the ball of wax, I stuck around as long as I did because I made some wonderful friends, I enjoyed the small fellowships and learned a few useful things. I had read E.W. Bullinger before I ever heard of TWI and enjoyed being able to find others who studied and enjoyed Bullinger and I could wallow in it.

The main thing that offended me was the adoration of VPW and later, LCM and the perverse notion that whatever fell out of VPW's mouth equalled the Word of God if not superceding it. I got SOOO sick of hearing "Doctor sez...Doctor sez...Doctor sez" until it turned my stomach. This is why I have no interest in CFF or any other "Doctor sez" ministry. Even without all his sexual predations etc., he was still just some guy that read the Bible...nothing more. I felt that way then with no sense of guilt or having been "tricked" and I feel that way now.

But she DID say similar to what I said about each individual figuring out what works for them...

I said that in my first post. This is why you, who evidently used kind of an eclectic mix of approaches, had such good success. I began my regimen with a blood test..one of those where they take a big vial of blood and you get a printout of EVERYTHING and then I studied it and learned all I could regarding my tolerances to fat, cholesteral, sugar etc. etc. I think this information is necessary before embarking on a strict Atkins type diet. I'd tried that earlier with some unfortunate results. Just one word here....METAMUCIL.

When considering the thing about exercise vs. weight loss, we must remember that when you exercise, you tend to replace fat with muscle mass which is much heavier than fat and consequently, you can end up weighing more, yet losing a few inches from your waist and other places in the process of "toning up". I also agree cardio isn't all it's cracked up to be. Weight training is far more effective, but cardio on "off days" keeps you limber and helps with energy. I say "off days" because I've found it somewhat counter productive to do weight training every day. Every other day works better for me.

I went bicycle riding with Andrew last Friday and crashed on the pavement causing some shoulder problems, so I haven't been doing much of anything except walking a lot, since, but it's getting better and I'll be back on schedule Monday.

Something else that has helped me quite a bit....Americans (and I guess most everyone else), for whatever reason, have gotten into a cultural habit of begnning the day with a small breakfast (or maybe no breakfast at all which is the worst thing you can possibly do), medium sized lunch and a large evening meal. We should do just the opposite and allow our food to fuel our daily activities, beginning the day with our largest meal and tapering down to a small evening meal or even snack, NEVER going to bed full.

Yes, Sudo, calorie intake is important. You simply can't eat 60 rib eye steaks each day or consume 35,000 calories of protein each day and expect to lose weight, especially with little or no vigorous ecxrcise.

Some other things that have been beneficial to me...

I weigh myself each day at about the same time, wearing about the same thing and with the scale in the same place on the floor. I keep a diary of everything I eat throughout the day and the time I ate it.

Consistency is important, as a persons weight can fluctuate as much as 10 lbs. throughout the course of a day and this has to be taken into consideration. This is especially true in the summer when we drink a lot of fluids and sweat a lot.

Rocky, do you know some way to measure BMI with a degree of accuracy without having to go to a special clinic? If so, I sure would appreciate the info.

For the record, you are talking simple carbohydrates and not complex? And favoring whole grain over processed grain?

For the record, you are absolutely correct.

Notice I said WHITE rice, flour etc.

In December of 2005, I went for my 6 month cardiologist visit. I had to wait a long time, so out of boredom, I snuck out to the local store and picked up a couple donuts and a cappuccino. I came back and munched them contentedly until they called me. When I went in for my obligatory pre appointment weigh in and BP/temp check, I weighed in at 320 lbs.

That was a huge shock to me. 320 lbs!

I realized it was time to either make some serious changes or get fitted for a coffin made from a piano box. My cardiologist, although sympathetic, was no help at all as he's about 5'8" in every direction.

I waddled home and made some serious decisions and changes.

After eliminating sugar, white flour, pasta, white rice, potatoes etc., I weighed about 270 in this photo.

Since then, I've lost about 90 lbs and weighed in this morning at 182.

I explored many options, including the Atkins diet and learned all I could learn about nutrition and how it applied to me, since I'm of the opinion that what might work for one, might not work for another since not everyone metabolizes their food the same way.

This photo was taken in June of '07. Although I'd gone down to about 190, I now had all this extraneous skin and flab.

If you don't exercise regularly, you tend to lose muscle tissue and retain fat.

Since I have a workout buddy, Andrew, and together we do weight training on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and Cardio on Tuesday and Thursday.

Thanks to this regimen, the extraneous stuff is going away.

Some things that worked for me...

Decide the minimum amount of calories your body requires each day to maintain your activity level. Divide that into 5 or 6 meals each day, never allowing yourself to feel hungry. When you feel hungry, your body goes into "famine" mode and stores whatever you eat as fat at the expense of lean muscle tissue.

Each morning, I begin the day with some simple exercises and then reward myself with a milkshake made up of a glass of 2% milk with one measure of whey protein supplement (chocolate flavored), 1/2 banana and occasionally a raw egg all whipped up in a blender.

This kicks the metabolism into high gear and helps use your food efficiently while giving more energy throughout the day.

Sudo is right about the sardines, but I personally prefer the little fish steaks (herring) in Louisiana hot sauce.

I go to the baby food aisle and buy the little finger meat sticks. Thery're low calorie, high protein and don't have all the salt and msg that is in Vienna sausages...and taste a LOT better.

I only use olive oil and REAL butter for cooking and salads etc.

Peanuts, avacados, hard boiled eggs, apple cider vinegar, canned salmon, and red peppers are your friends. Enjoy them.

Just some random thoughts.

Last month, my 2nd oldest boy bought himself a new .357 magnum revolver. Here he is practicing with it. He can't seem to hit much, but it looks intimidating enough that he shouldn't have to.

Portra 160 NC

What happens when you pin targets to a tree and shoot it enough times? It falls down.

Portra 160NC

Here is the town near where I live. Leslie, Arkansas, population 481 or so. It's 7 miles away which is good because I don't like being too close to densly populated urban areas like that.

Fuji 400

Each year, Leslie holds a festival and here is a shot from the egg toss compettition.

Fuji 400

The whole town turns out and everyone is treated to free pinto beans and cornbread prepared by the retired sheriff.

Fuji 400

Here is a kid named Mikey. He can really eat some beans!

This is a lady sitting in a field. I don't know is she likes beans much or not. The subject didn't come up.

Fuji400

A couple of years ago, I had a goat. That same year I started 100 Roma tomato plants. When I was anticipating lots and lots of delicious tomatoes for my salsa, home made ketchup and tomato sauce, the goat ate every damned one of my seedlings.

CAUTION: cheap digital image of goat taken with cheap digital camera

The goat died of lead poisoning (see photo 1) and now resides on this wall where he poses for photographs like this one. He did make some wonderful chili!

Fuji 400

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a car show to get some shots to sell to participants and prize winners.

Portra 160NC

I made a few bucks, but the highlight was when I was standing by the prize winners line taking photos, the lady handed me a plaque. I told her I didn't have a car in the show, but she gave me the plaque, anyway. I took my plaque and went out on the parking lot to my '84 Blazer, raised the hood and had Andrew shoot this of me with my prize.

It's the first and only award I've ever won at a car show.

Fuji 400

And many more!

Happy birthday to one of the more erudite posters here. I always appreciate your input.

Yesterday, on the Ovation TV channel (I have Direct TV satellite), was showing a history of photography intermixed with profiles of various contemporary photographers. Among them was Gregory Crewdson and it documented one of his shoots. Quite interesting, really.

Anyway, three somewhat controversial photographers were mentioned...Sally Mann, Jock Sturges and David Hamilton. I've always found their work to be disturbing and inappropriate, although they're widely accepted in the art community and make a helluva lot more $$$ that I ever did. They're quite well known and respected in the art/photo community and I have to admit, Hamilton is a master with color rendition and composition.

I won't go into what they do, you can Google and find out for yourself. Maybe I'm being too "old fogeyish" here, but I'm curious what others think. Are these three genuine artists or ???

Ovation TV is airing a one hour documentary on Sally Mann this week and I think PBS did one a while back.

What do the GSer's think?

Do the four even have reflections?

Although zombies and vampires are both undead, the vampires cast no relflection while zombies do...or so I'm told. Actually, I've had no personal experience with either...at least not since I left the California limb.

Ergo, the singing ladies would cast reflections while higher leadership wouldn't.

This is useful information in the event of zombie attacks or someone knocking on your door bearing a green 3x5 card.

Everyone is in a hurry to scream 'racism' these days!

A customer asked 'In what aisle could I find the Polish sausage?

The clerk looks at him and says, 'Are you Polish?'

The guy (clearly offended) says, 'Well, yes I am. But let me ask you

something.'

'If I had asked for Italian sausage would you ask me if I was Italian?'

'Or if I had asked for German bratwurst, would you ask me if I was German?'

'Or if I asked for a kosher hot dog would you ask me if I was Jewish?'

'Or if I had asked for a Taco would you ask if I was Mexican?'

'Would you? Would you?'

The clerk says, 'Well, no!'

'If I asked for some Irish whiskey, would you ask if I was Irish?'

'Well, I probably wouldn't!'

With deep self-righteous indignation, the guy says, 'Well then, why

did you ask me if I'm Polish because I asked for Polish sausage?'

The clerk replies, 'Because you're in Home Depot.'

Shortly after LCM said that, I heard something about it on one of those 'wierd news' things on a California radio station. I didn't pay much attention either time, tho.

I remember seeing a decomissioned aircraft carrier for sale on ebay a couple of years ago. I may have even posted a link to it here at the GSC.

I would have bought it, but it was $25,000,000 as I recall and egg sales were a little slow that year and I had no place to park it.

I thought I might bury it and it would make one helluva storm shelter.

I would imagine the Pope could get pretty much whatever he wanted from ebay, if the Vatican has a Paypal account.

Nico's expression seems to suggest she's weary of the papparazzi taking her picture.

Nice photo.

Happy Birthday (((((((((Doojable)))))))))))!!

I've been a fan of Gregory Crewdson for a few years now, since I first heard of him. His shoots are like movie productions and, although he shoots film and scans his negatives, he doesn't rely heavily on post production techniques such as "Photoshop" to achieve his desired results.

This photo of him on location earned my undying respect.

As you can see, he's shooting with a Sinar 8x10 view without a digital back and he has his front standard raised, indicating he uses camera movement perspecive controls instead of making his image in his computer. In other words, he creates his image in the camera, not in his computer. He's the real deal.

He does his shoots on carefully planned sets. According to an interview, in the shot posted by eyesopen, he spent a great deal of time scoping out the location of the scene under a railroad bridge. He had a crew of about 40 people, used lights on cranes for the backlighting, key and fill lights and a machine to produce the fog. He put it all together so very masterfully as to elicit such a comment from mstar as "Its hard to believe that especially that second Crewdson piece is actually a photograph-the depth and the feel is magnificent..."

So many people out there today just shoot digital snapshots and use their computers to turn an otherwise banal image into something that kinda sorta resembles an artistic photo and you have to respect somebody like Crewdson that actually makes a quality image on film.

I don't wish to hijack Doojable's thread or digress into another subject, but this is a huge area of interest to me and you got my total attention with Crewdson.

(((((((((((Robes))))))))))))

My love and prayers along with Andrew's love and prayers are with you.

How do you make money off of raising all these different animals?

Kill and eat!

:D

((((Jen-o)))) ! I remember you very well from Waydale days.

I was pretty appalled at some of the things I saw in Davis. I was part of a little brass quintet that played occasional gigs and we were invited to play at the Davis High school at Christmas...er...Winter holidays, but were told we couldn't perform any Christian songs, even though the nature of a brass quintet (two trumpets, a baritone, a french horn and yours truly on the tuba) precludes any lyrics being sung. The melodies were even verboten by the law of the Reich. We ended up playing our masterful rendition of Pachelbel's Canon and the usual pop pap such as "Jingle Bells", "Silver Bells" and "Winter Wonderland".

My Californey experience taught me there is NOTHING more intolerant, bigoted and hate filled than a liberal's agenda of "multiculturalism and diversity".

Instead of telling the entire joke, just post some of your favorite punchlines. Let the readers use their imaginations. It'll probably be better than the original joke.

I'll start off with a few of mine....

It turns into a suitcase when you rub it!

Then they would both have two!

But this one is eating my popcorn!

Felt like a wet Q-Tip!

An organ grinder...

Grapefruit!

Move over Sister Beatrice, I need to gargle!