Followers

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Something To Think About

In the Bible, in the sixth chapter of Genesis, we read, "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart."

I read those verses the other day and it started me thinking about the things I think about and as I began to study the issue for a story, I ran across an article that was written several years ago by Charles Greer, who at the time was primarily a consultant and industry trainer for salespeople and technicians in the air conditioning and plumbing industries. His article about what we think was too good to pass up, so I am going to re-post parts of it here. Mr. Greer writes some good stuff so it it well worth the read.

Several years ago, the National Science Foundation said we think a thousand thoughts per hour, or about 12,000 thoughts per day. A deep thinker will think 50,000 thoughts per day. 

Imagine that, fifty percent of the time, we are positive in our thinking. For many, that still means twenty-five thousand negative thoughts are being programmed every day, along with the consequent negative realities that are created by them. Watch your thoughts—they are blueprints for actions. A great deal of what we see depends on what we're looking for. Ugly thoughts make ugly faces. It is important that we review our thoughts each day. Many of us are not aware of how much we actually think or how negative our attitudes might be. We must not let our thoughts take charge of us.

Positive thinking is the only way to produce positive results.

Every thought you think, everything you believe contains enough creative power to bring about the condition or experience or circumstance you're thinking about. The things you habitually think about, the thoughts you habitually think, the things you habitually say to yourself will mold and shape every aspect of your life.

What are you thinking about?

Negative self-talk is as bad a habit as you can have and most people are afflicted with it. Habits are first cobwebs, then they become chains. Chains of habits are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken. Bad habits are like comfortable beds, asy to get into, but hard to get out of. Bad men excuse their faults while good men abandon them.

The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts. The city of happiness is in the state of mind. Happiness comes when we stop complaining about our troubles and begin to be thankful for the troubles we don't have. Some people find happiness in making the most of what they haven't got. Some people bring happiness wherever they go, others whenever they do. Every day, do something every day to make others happy, even if it means just leaving them alone.

The most important things in life are not things. Joy is not in things; it is in us. We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about. The need is not for more money, less disease, etc., but to change one's way of thinking.

You are only poor when you want more than you have. Poverty is a state of mind, and it's caused by a neighbor's new car. It is better to be short of cash than to be short of character. A poor man can be happy, but a happy man isn't poor. The happiest people are those who discover that what they should be doing and what they are doing are the same things.

An open mind is fine but be careful what you shovel into it. Be bold in what you stand for, be careful what you fall for. Unless we find beauty and happiness in our own backyards, we will never find them in the mountains.

To read the entire article by Charles Greer click here.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

A Tribute To Elizabeth Taylor

Actress Elizabeth Taylor died Tuesday at age 79. She is well known here in Kentucky for her 1956 movie, Raintree County, which was filmed in different parts of the state.

Expected to be the next Gone With the Wind, the 3-hour Civil War drama, Raintree County, turned out to be a disappointment at the box office. But to Kentuckians, that did not matter. Elizabeth Taylor, a 24-year-old actress, dressed in her almost-scandalous form-fitting capri pants, had been here.

Raintree County premiered in Louisville in October 1957. At the time of the filming, Ms. Taylor was divorcing husband No. 2, Michael Wilding, for husband No. 3, Mike Todd, and Danville telephone operators reportedly said they heard plenty of phone calls between the three of them. While Ms. Taylor was on location in Danville, Todd sent her 200 long-stemmed roses and a $30,000 black pearl ring, Ms. Taylor's biographer, C. David Heymann, wrote in his 1995 book Liz.

MGM Studios and more than 100 actors moved into Danville to shoot the movie, which, cost $6 million dollars. It was the most expensive American film ever made at that time.

Raintree County was based on a novel by Ross Lockridge Jr. It earned four Academy Award nominations. The making of the movie was a big deal in Kentucky. Nearly half of the filming took place in Danville. A home near Somerset was used in the movie. Today, it is known as Raintree Inn. 15,000 pounds of props, 3,500 costumes, 216 tons of equipment, 135 crew members, and 119 speaking roles for a cast that included Eva Marie Saint, Nigel Patrick, Rod Taylor, Agnes Moorehead, and Lee Marvin. More than 300 locals, including a few from this area, served as extras.

Danville resident, Eleanor McDonald, recalled, “Stretch pants had just been invented and we’d never seen them before. They looked like you’d just melt and pour yourself into them. Elizabeth Taylor was wearing them and I thought my husband would fall off the back porch when he saw her. Oh, she was pretty.”

Monday, March 21, 2011

March Madness

People have gone plumb mad.

How can a person sit in front of the TV day and night between Thursday to Sunday and watch nothing but basketball is beyond me?

Wait, I am talking about own brother, and even my.....MOTHER!

It's March Madness!

And, there is a rumbling going on right now within the boundaries of the Wildcat Nation. 

Yes, the Kentucky Wildcats have their own nation. It stretches way beyond the outer limits of the universe...way beyond a galaxy far, far away.

Hello, I am the Notorious Meddler and I am a recovering Wildcats fanatic. It's true. All I needed on game day was a radio or a TV, and a pizza place that delivered, and it was GO BIG BLUE!

...and then, Duke defeated Kentucky in 1992.

But, lets not talk about that...

I would rather go back to when it all began -- the 1979 Magic Versus Bird NCAA Final Between Michigan State and Indiana State. It was the nation's top two players going up against one another. Life was good,and it was only the beginning.

I was h-double o-k, hooked, bay-bee!

Then came that fateful night on March 28, 1992. (Refer to the comment I made just five lines ago.)

That night, my poor TV must have been a nervous wreck. I did, after all, threaten to do it harm on more than one occasion by picking it up and throwing it out into the front yard. Poor, poor TV!

Normal U.K. fans will not understand what I am saying when I admit that I was too fanatical about the Wildcats, but I was, and after the greatest college basketball game EVER was over, so was my desire to be so fanatical about the Cats, or for any team or sport for that matter, Well, except the mighy, mighty Bulldogs of CCHS! Oh, don't get me wrong, I love Kentucky Basketball and am glad when we win, but nowadays I am not so into it that it controls me. I tried to watch the Kentucky-West Virginia game Saturday but I fell asleep with two minutes left to play.

According to one dictionary, being a fanatic means wildly excessive or irrational devotion, dedication, or enthusiasm. That's a Kentucky Wildcats fan!

My grandmother is the reason I was a Wildcats fanatic. She was one, too. She would sit in her rocking chair, dressed from head to toe in U.K. blue and white, holding a basketball that had been signed by then-coach, Tubby Smith. She was a die hard fan and always cheered enthusiastically for her beloved Wildcats.

There are over 4.3 million people living in Kentucky and most of them are fanatical about the University of Kentucky men's basketball team.

Once, after the Wildcats had played a poor game, legendary coach, Adolph Rupp, bumped into an elderly lady at the airport. "Sorry ma'am, no offense." She replied, "D--- little defense either."

It's March Madness.

People have gone plumb mad!


Friday, March 11, 2011

The Kneeling Camel



The camel, at the close of day
Kneels down upon the sandy plain
To have his burden lifted off
And rest to gain

My soul, thou too shouldst to thy knees
When the daylight draweth to a close
And let thy Master lift thy load
And grant repose

Else how canst thou tomorrow meet
With all tomorrow's work to do
If thou thy burden all the night
Dost carry through

The camel kneels at break of day
To have his guide replace his load
Then rises up again to take
The desert road

Sou thou shouldst kneel at morning's dawn
That God may give thee daily care
Assured that He no load too great
Will make thee bear

Anna Temple

My 78 RPM Disks (1905-1924)

1. Albert Campbell - Dreaming (3701). Steve Porter - Flanagan At The Vocal Teacher's (3705). Standard Talking Machine Company 1907. 2. ...