• Conspiracy Theories

    The Ben Ben Stone

    I frequently see posts on social media and elsewhere on the internet about the Ben Ben Stone. The text accompanying the photo varies, but typically goes something like this: The Pyramid of Ben Ben has puzzled scientists for thousands of years and until now they have not been able to solve the puzzle. The pyramid is located in the Egyptian Museum. The pyramid is made of black iron stone, which is only found in space in space meteorites. All its components do not exist on the face of the Earth.. And here the second puzzle appears because it is iron stone, which is very impossible and difficult to shape and…

  • Biblical History

    📜The Last Supper📜

    This post is for anyone who is interested in having a more clear picture of the most famous Passover meal in all of history, or any Passover meal from that time period. It’s interesting how society is so strongly influenced by everything from fiction novels to modern media, movies, and even the paintings from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. People get such wrong ideas about all kinds of things. This phenomenon is illustrated well by “The Last Supper” mural by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Aside from his suspiciously Medieval European depiction of Jesus and the apostles, he has them sitting at a table. Like, a dinner table…

  • Childhood,  School Days

    Me, in Search of Self

    This is a post I’ve been putting off, but it needs to get done and over with. It’s about me being born a little smarter than the average bear. No matter how many times I say I’m not bragging, some people will think I am. But the truth is, I have spent most of my adulthood hiding it due to the social difficulties it causes. As an adult, I often deliberately acted dumb about a subject I knew a lot about. But I’m tired of pretending to be something I’m not. And it’s impossible to tell my story without revealing my high intelligence (that phrase was hard to type). No,…

  • Conspiracy Theories

    Oh No! A Solar Eclipse!

    So… we’re going to have a Solar Eclipse on April 8. What a bunch of ridiculous conspiracy theories and misinformation springing up ahead of this event. The above meme and similar ones are popping up on social media, accompanied by every kind of alarmist drivel people can dream up. Does nobody read past the headlines, or try to confirm the truth of a matter? I just asked a dumb question. People don’t. Yes, authorities are advising residents who are in the path of the eclipse to be prepared. But if alarmists would bother to find out why- it has ZERO to do with the eclipse itself. The eclipse is a…

  • American History

    Ulysses S. Grant vs. Catholics

    People love to share clever quotes by public or historical figures on social media, and while the sentiment may be nice, 9 times out of 10, I’m unable to confirm that the person in question ever actually said that. Sometimes they did say it, but often, it’s taken out of context. I’ve been seeing this Grant meme going around lately, and it’s an example of a quote that may be taken out of context. Yes, he said it, but…. The quote was lifted from a speech Grant gave at the Ninth Annual Meeting of the Army of the Tennessee in Des Moines, Iowa, on September 29, 1875. Before this speech,…

  • Conspiracy Theories,  Science Denial

    Medical Conspiracy Theories

    One of the favorite targets of conspiracy theorists and science deniers is the field of medicine. So reject medicine and go back to the way it was before real science became involved. Enjoy bloodletting, foul concoctions being administered via enema, high death rates during birth (for mothers and babies), no washing of hands or instruments between patients. Compound fractures were too complicated to set, so your arm or leg was removed with a meat saw and no anesthetic. During recovery, there was a very high chance of dying from the ensuing infection. Diseases and medical conditions that are easily treated now were death sentences. I could keep going, but it…

  • Social Issues

    Vintage Films – A Study in Race Relations

    Anyone who’s around me for very long knows how much I love old TV shows (40s to early 60s), and old movies (from silent films into the early 60s). But my interest isn’t entirely for the sake of drama and entertainment; I find them a fascinating look into society and culture as it was in former generations. I always notice the parts assigned to people of color. Most are portrayed as not very bright. Most black people are in a subservient role and usually don’t speak unless spoken to. Hispanics are often portrayed as poor farmers or as outlaws. Asians tend to have stupid expressions on their faces. Native Americans…

  • School Days

    The School From Hell

    TRIGGER WARNING! This will be a difficult read for some people. Before I get to the main body of this post, I need to give some backstory. You’ll understand why in a few minutes. I was country, but not a backward hick. When my mother first left home and got out in the world, she realized she was a backward country hick. She was determined her children wouldn’t suffer this fate. So we traveled! We had little money, but we’d take our food, sleep in the car, visit tourist spots, and attend all kinds of events; anything with free or cheap admission. And we visited extended relatives who were scattered…

  • Childhood,  School Days

    Barefoot Boy

    Things were different in the 1960’s. I remember feeling so sorry for one boy. Maybe nowadays, teachers would look into the situation, but back then, as long as there were no obviously visible signs of abuse, they would look the other way. He came to school every day in the same clothes, with no shoes, even in the winter. Yes, it was in south Texas, but it did get really cold part of the winter, with frost on the ground, sometimes windy with sleet or freezing rain falling. Not good on bare feet. On those cold days, he wore a thin, threadbare windbreaker. It couldn’t have helped much with the…

  • Childhood

    That Time I Gave a Bully What For

    This happened while we lived in Sugar Land. I was about 12 years old. First, I have to explain that I never played with the girls. All they wanted to do was play with dolls, or play jacks or jumprope or hopscotch. None of them were interested in climbing trees, or wading in the creek to catch frogs and crawdads. So I was one of the boys. Not just the boys in the neighborhood. Some of my male cousins, who were a few years older than me, lived close, so I was around them and their male friends a lot. The boys taught me everything from how to change oil…

  • Childhood

    Sugar Land

    When my mother married Charles, my stepfather, he had grown up on a farm, and when he got old enough to work, he was a cowhand, had seldom been much further than from where he was born and raised, and didn’t know anything other than farm life. He and my mother were married only a couple years when she told him they had to get away from his parents, because they were controlling every aspect of our lives. My mother almost never put her foot down, but in that, she did. She was leaving and he could come with her or not. So we moved from north Texas to south…

  • Bible Stories

    📜The Story of Joseph, Mary and Jesus📜

    So many misconceptions about the Biblical accounts; mis-translations, legends springing up outside of anything found in the Gospels. So little knowledge the average person has of the Jewish culture of that time period during the Roman occupation. We have to start with Mary’s pregnancy. An unwed Jewish girl getting pregnant! The Sanhedrin would have been well within the law to sentence her to death, but since Joseph quickly married her, and since Joseph’s and Mary’s families were probably well thought of in the community, she was spared that fate. Poor Mary! Like girls of today, she had probably dreamed of the fine wedding she would have. She may have already…