Thanksgiving. I have been reading about Joseph Smith and the history of The Book of Mormon. I stumbled (via Google) onto a fascinating site with lots of documentation at the "Institute for Religious Research. I’ve read all I need to confirm my original gut feeling that Joseph Smith was one hell of a con man. I think I was about 14 years old when my young inquiring mind picked up and tried to read The Book of Mormon. At that age I could wade through The Bible, Jules Verne, When Worlds Collide, and the novelized version of Forbidden Planet. I read some Churchill, William L. Shirer’s Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, and even gave Plato and Gibbon a shot, but my BS filter saw The Book of Mormon as badly written fiction. It amazes me that so many people take it seriously, and I have recently gotten concerned because one of that cult’s members, Mitt Romney (an attractive candidate, who is currently the Governor of Massachusetts), is pursuing a run for President of the United States as a Conservative Republican. And, as much as I have come to admire Glenn Beck I have to question the sanity of anyone claiming to believe that crap. It is a cult as far as I am concerned. I've always felt that way, but one afternoon’s research has me convinced. What is it? A tool for career advancement as people always say about secret societies like the Masons?

Truly it is nice to feel belonging with a group of like minded individuals, but to profess belief in a Joseph Smith, for crying out loud--the guy was in arrested, tried and found guilty of fraud for using his "seer stone" to help people find buried treasure in Bainbridge, New York (1826)...give me a break! This is the same "seer stone" he put in his hat to "read" the interpretation of his golden "plates"--which no one but him ever saw!

I can understand taking things on faith. I, myself, am a Christian. But I trust Christ's diciples over Joseph Smith's any day. The latter were not really witnesses. They served as stenographers and "witnessed" his creative writing, which I am sure was done in the most solemn of settings. One of those "Witnesses" David Whitmer eventually left the church. I could go on, but I've made my point. At any rate, I hope the links point the way.

I must say it has been nice having a topic to center on for a change. I wish I could dicipline myself to do this sort of thing on a regular basis. Who knows? If I could, I might have the makings of a hack writer.

In the interest of "full disclosure" let me say I'm not a Democrat. I am more closely aligned with Republicans, though I prefer to call myself a Libertarian. I'm certainly more conservative than I am Republican. I suppose that puts me more in the camp of Robert Novak than George W. Bush, but I'm certainly to the left of William Kristol and think of myself as being somewhere between him and William F. Buckley. I'm a Reaganite, for sure. I'm also a ditto-head. With regards to the recent election, I accept the results as being a referendum on the Iraq situation and on the way the Republicans have screwed up their opportunity to govern. They, and GW, shouldn't have been so squishy on the immigration issue. There is plenty of blame to go around, but on the plus side (as Rush said), it was a defeat for Republicans, but a win for Conservatives. I'm happy to see some of the RINOs go (Republican in name only), Chafee in particular. The results were not a tilt towards Liberalism. Leiberman's win is the proof there. I'd love to see him cross the aisle. That would be justice!

It took all night and a much needed sleep period, but I woke this morning to find my blog intact and reincarnated. My login and password have changed, but I am again in control and I can take it from here. So far it seems the changes are minor. When I first logged on, a few minutes ago, I found that my experimental entry from last night had been posted 3 times in succession. Back then, I was thinking I'd totally failed and went to bed bummed out. So these things take time. A "growing pain," I guess you could call it. I will now post this and if the test is successful, I'll soon get to talking about what I was going to say last night, which had something to do with the recent election.

Well, I've just had a re-awakening. I came to log in and found that everything about my long comfortable blog had changed. Google has taken over. I had to reestablish my account and was momentarily freaked out, thinking that I'd lost my access. It seems, so far, that everything is as it should be. Some things about the "dashboard" have changed, but it is supposed to be improved. We'll see. I mean, I established this blog back in 2002 and though I don't make entries that often (and went a whole year without a single entry) I've come to think of this as a sort of stable state. It serves as it should as a sort of log...a Web log, or Blog as intended. Truly it's taken me a long time to learn how to manage this space, and I'm no where near where I'd like to be with regards to utilizing this territory, I had to start somewhere, and this was it. Now, before I start philosophizing about the recent election results I should see if this post appears as it should.

The ancient settlers of Houston, in the mid-nineteenth century, used to describe the summers here as unbearable and lasting until "October 15th." Well, true, there was no airconditioning then and I have often wondered why man settled here in the first place, but it is now a wonderful place to live. And summer, even by their standards, is now officially over.

It's raining here today, which puts the kabosh on bicycle riding--an activity for which this town is ideally suited. It's very green, with lots of lovely trees, and it's flat. Most of the inner city sidewalks are graded at intersections so there's no need to hop curbs. It's true the city is famous for its auto traffic, but once one learns the side streets the mobility and exercise combine for "the greater good of the body." A little Star Trek--"Landru" humor there. Since I am on vacation this week I am willfully allowing the rain to constrain my mobility (though I have a car) so I can play hermit/hobbit for a few days. I have my cable TV, the Internet and my Flight Simulator. Btw, FSX (Flight Simulator 10) came out last week and I am hard up against the fact that my current home PC can't handle that new/improved edition. Now I know what I want to get myself for Christmas.

As I continue with my old FS2002 I seek to enhance my flight simming experience by creating scenery. I have in mind the creation of my own "fantasy island." I've read that such projects are rather easily managed, but I am daunted by the task. I have chosen the location, 361nm south southwest of Oahu, and I've conjured up a name for the rock: "Kalakahulan Island" a combination of my original Scottish surname and Hawaiian, but just sketching the object has given me fits. For inspiration I have been drawing on the old chart of Jules Verne's Mysterious Island, which has stayed with me since I was around 14 years old:

Oh, and by the way, happy equinox everyone. I've emailed all my friends with the YouTube thing that I think is the coolest thing I've seen yet. I'm sure you've probably seen it by now, but before the link get's broken I must say to all Trekkers and Star Wars fans this is a must see.

It is clearly going to be some time before I can get anything going with regards to my Web space. The FTP/Front Page issue boggles my mind at the moment. In the interim and out of boredom I set out to pursue my Flight Simulator interests. My first target was Mt. Rushmore, thinking "North by Northwest," or as it was orignally titled, "The Man in Lincoln's Nose," and here's what I came up with:


Now I realize that's not very artistic, but it was the best I could do at the moment. That little plane flying toward's Lincoln's nose is my Cessna Caravan Amphibian. Anyway, after a few shots of doing those flybys I wound up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, between Yellowstone and The Grand Tetons. There was a Snake river there which made me think about Lewis and Clark. So I thought I'd do a little more exploring. What followed was this:

“Clay, on Oakdale, his eyes uncovered!”
“Lewis and Clark, the Missouri behind.”
“The Snake beyond the Yellowstone”
“Lewis and Clark at the ocean.”

The above is, of course, a parody of the Star Trek episode “Darmok,” but it is fitting at the moment. In playing with my latest flight simulator journey I’ve done quite a bit of reading about the Lewis and Clark expedition and, by George, I think I’ve got it. When I was in Jackson Hole (via FS), I wondered about the Snake River passing by there. I thought there might be two. I mean, how many creeks are there in Texas that are called Clear Creek? Further research however has led me to think that the Snake River near Jackson Hole might be the same one that Lewis and Clark found as their downward waterslide to the Pacific, which makes Yellowstone (National Park) all that more interesting, as a historical reference.

They don’t teach it like that to us in school, or how else would it be that I (at 56) just now figured it out. I could be wrong of course, but I’ve studied up on this some and if I am correct, why is this not more clearly presented. Even if I am wrong, why isn’t the truth more interestingly explained for inquiring minds such as mine?

I went to Bozeman, Montana (via FS), so that I could study the terrain traversed by Lewis and Clark in their expedition, which I consider to be one of the greatest adventures Man has undertaken. As I zeroed in on the nexus of the journey, the “Continental Divide,” I wanted specifics that I found lacking in any maps I had looked at. Even the National Geographic presentation, which is very excellent, failed to satisfy my basic questions about the Snake River, but I think I know why that is.

Nobody really knows. Certainly, nobody writing at that time had any idea where they were. They were doing their best to keep records, as I do in journalizing my own chaotic life, but the frames of reference are often relevant only to the person making the commentary. I guess it’s an example of the “uncertainty principle.”

It is easy to imagine two different routes of this historic trip as presented by the record, but if one looks at the record of how history has named things surrounding the journey, there is no way to be sure which is correct. I like the Yellowstone version best, because that’s where the Missouri would have led, but then that’s only me as a writer wanting to make the best story. The northern trip doesn’t seem to me as convincing, or as exciting, but that’s just me. I don’t feel obliged to anyone to do anything but make the Lewis and Clark Expedition one of the greatest stories ever told. If I take a little literary license by taking the trip through Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons; well that will be fine with me. But that bit about Sacagawea’s brother; being the chief of that tribe! That’s hard to beat. Great story! I can’t believe it hasn’t been done yet. I want to do it right! Oh, and by the way, as I finished reading the National Geographic profile of that adventure this was the final post:

"On the morning of September 23 [1806], the Corps of Discovery entered the Mississippi River and at noon disembarked at St. Louis—two years, four months, and ten days after they had left. Gathered along the shore, the one thousand people of St. Louis greeted the returned Corps with gunfire salutes and an enthusiastic welcome."

Oh, and this is September 23, 2006. There seems a circular symmetry associated with the date, somehow. If Magellan had survived his voyage his fame would have eclipsed Columbus' by far. Lewis and Clark survived, but who knows who they were/are?

I have a long way to go in figuring out how the Web is woven. Maybe I should have read that book about Charlotte that my sister liked so much. In any case it seems that in dealing with Road Runner one must choose between FTP and Front Page. I have my problems with both formats, and I certainly can't afford to pay someone else to do the work for me, so I must study. I'm 56 years old, I don't want to study! Still, there are methods of communication that I want to facilitate and therefore I feel compelled to pursue. At this point I will say I have a great empathy with Rush Limbaugh. He and I are the same age, we both have had backgrounds in radio and we are of almost identical political persuasions. Yet he has taken his passion and made millions for thinking and feeling the same as I do. Am I jealous? Envious? Not exactly. No. I say, "Good for him!" He had a focus I did not have. To this day I lack that focus. I am so cynical I can't get behind any cause, whether it is saving my country or my fellow man...I feel helpless. Hell, I can't even hold the one woman I consider the most important being I know! Nevertheless, I will plod onward through the fog (as they say in Austin) and do my part to contribute some particle board for others that to post their feelings...feelings? Exactly what that means I don't know, but it will be coming to a Web site near you soon... It will be something like, cabbie's can be pundits, too.

As I recover from the darkness that was this past summer (btw, it's the first summer I can remember in years when the temperature never got to 100 degrees in Houston--global warming and all that), I have decided it is time to move on (and not in the sense of that terribly misnamed Democrat blog that does not move on but stays stuck in the past). It is time for me to move...let me say, "forward." Long, long time ago, in a Website faraway I tried to establish a posting point for my stuff (fiction and so on) with links of interests to me and from friends, including my wife. Well, that project didn't get very far. I'm giving thought to trying that approach again. Don't get me wrong! I'd like nothing better than to show off pictures of the grandkids, but the rules at Road Runner have changed and I have to relearn the FTP and Front Page protocols. I also want to broaden the scope and perhaps, if I'm hip enough, get a Domain name. Right now I'm toying with stupid stuff like "Cabbies can be Pundits, Too," and "driversspeakout." By "drivers" I don't want to limit that to cab drivers, bus drivers, or delivery drivers, but any driver. Hey, we are all drivers, right? If you don't drive, click the back button. I have gone so far as to stake out a space on the Web via Road Runner, but I haven't yet been able to do anything with it. All I've been able to post there so far is the picture posted above--which, by the way, was my first ever computer generated art.