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DangerBob
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Name: Chris
Country: United States
State: Kansas
Metro: Shawnee
Birthday: 8/28/1987
Gender: Male
Interests: Computer Games
Card Games
Sports
Expertise: money laundering
Occupation: Other
Industry: Banking/Finance
Message: message me
AIM:  XxDangerBobxX
Member Since:
1/25/2004
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| Blood and Iron are still the bedrock of modern states.
Blood stands for the human resources of a nation. Does a nation have an adequate birthrate? What is the life expectancy of the people? What is the quality of life in a nation? Are they literate? Are they educated? Do they have faith?
Iron stands for the technological state of a country, and is an offshoot of the blood, which bends the iron to its will. The Iron of the military must be particularly advanced. A nation with a lesser level of military sophistication will not stand the test if a more powerful power decides to invade. Iron could perhaps stand for the manufacturing and economy of a state.
If the blood in a state gets poisoned by low birth rates, by unhealthiness, by a weak educational system, or by spiritual decay and the corruption that comes from too much luxury, a nation will slowly fall.
If the iron of a nation rusts, if the infrastructure fails, if the nation fails to keep on the the cutting edge through a lack of funding for research and development, if innovation is lacking, then the state cannot remain prosperous and risks its existence.
We live in a fallen world, but in the past, as today, some believe that man can be good and remain good. Consider the time before world war I. No one could have foreseen the just how awful World War I would be. There had not been a great war since Napoleon. The idea of a never-ending progress and betterment of mankind was very popular. Britain was building a new Jerusalem on their isle. Hope died for many after that war, and even more after the second world war.
Do not think that there will never again be a great calamity. Do not think that war is ended. Never think that just because you have beaten your sword into a plowshare that everyone else has too. The lion will lie down with the lamb in the next world, not here.
Such an outlook does not disdain diplomacy, but it realizes that when the time comes that diplomacy fails, it is preferable to have the smarter generals and bigger guns.
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| Greetings Xanga,
How are you today? I see that the transition to facebook has nearly ruined you. How is that going for you? I see that you are trying to get people back with your new features. That is admirable, but you see, you still have not broken the lock facebook has on college students. Only 4 are in the Valparaiso Network, and only 2 of them still go to Valpo. Heck, I'm in Germany. Xanga, you gotta do better than that. Ok, Ok, I haven't been altogether fair. I did like your blogging feature much more than what facebook has. There, the blogging has not quite taken hold like it did here. Here, the blogging was of primary importance whereas on facebook the blogging is definitely secondary. Oh well, good luck in the future, Xanga. I wish you well! Tschuss!
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| I went to Montana, about a month ago I guess, and was fairly impressed by the scenery, both in Montana, and on the way up through Wyoming. We took two days to drive from Kansas City to Red Lodge. The morning of the second day of driving I found myself in the Medicine Bow mountains. There I experienced a clarity that I have seldom seen/felt in my life. The colors were stronger there. I had a snowball fight on the 28th of July while Kansas City burned under the summer sun. There are pictures, and you can see them on facebook if you desire, but, of course, pictures do not do justice to God's country.
God's country, that's what we called the Beartooth range. Later that day we drove up through Wyoming, passing down a plateau, through the Wind river canyon and its red rock on the north end, and up the Chief Joseph scenic highway. There was a gorge on that road that dropped a couple hundred feet I guess. The rail was only about 4 feet high so I took care not to bend too far over it. The sound of rushing waters is very refreshing, by the way. Soon we found ourselves on the Beartooth highway. Near the top we saw a snow plow, and thought it strange because we had seen no snow. Yet as we climbed we found a dusting of snow laying on the tundra. Snow in July, ha! Eventually we reached the top of the highway and looked back on the landscape behind us. Shafts of light pierced through the clouds over countless mountains and we listened to the wind, breathed it in, and were content.
On the other side we found a bowl that dropped a thousand feet, then dropped again about two thousand feet. A sign told us that we had reached Montana. Another sign told us that we could go 70mph on the way down the mountain. Ha! We made our way down and camped the night after seeing a moose and a red mountain sunset.
The next day we climbed a thousand feet to Mystic lake and took many pictures. We carried with us 6 days of food or so, tents, and other items in our packs. Going on foot, we had plenty of time to absorb the views. Going up Huckleberry Creek the way became steep until the trail went into a fun field of gray, moss sprinkled boulders. We camped at Huckleberry Creek near the boulders and rested the night.
Going down we went across the logjam at the outlet of Island Lake, where it flows into Mystic. 5 miles later we came to Silver Lake, took of our shoes, and rested in the 58 degree water. Three trout later, we went to bed. The next couple of days saw us fishing up and down the stream between Silver and Island Lake. I caught more than 10 fish, 3-4 of which we ate. Everyone caught fish on the trip, and our expert fisherman, Shawn, was satisfied. I grew satisfied and rid myself of wanderlust by climbing almost a thousand feet up the other side of the lake and taking some cool pictures of the lake and surrounding, towering mountains. That was a good day in general. We went all the way around the lake and found the delta marshes of the inlet to be very pretty. The next day was the best fishing day. We went down to almost the inlet of Island lake and caught several big fish, eating 11 of them.
The time came to depart the day after, and we broke camp in a rain which stayed with us until we came again to Mystic lake. Then the sun came out and gave us more great views and great picures. Some mountaintops looked like castles with broken turrets and ruined walls, others looked like domes and half domes, and still others just looked like mountains, which is pretty enough. There was a hydroelectric pipe that we gauged our height by. Dropping a thousand feet below it, we came to the van and went back down the gravelly road, past the mossy, emerald lake, back to Red Lodge, and back to a new campsite.
Sunlight and an old man with a loud triangle summoning us to breakfast woke us up the next morning. After some souveneir shopping in Red Lodge we went back down through Wyoming, taking the direct route, more to the east this time. That evening we ate at Sanfords in Cheyenne where I had one of the best desserts of my life, fried oreos with ice cream, whipped cream, and utter, indescribable wonderfulness. It was a good night and a good morning. We came back to Kanas City in the early evening.
The temperature the next day was 30 degrees warmer than it ever got in the Montana mountains. Bleah.
Now I'm at college, and college is good. Maybe another post.......
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| I guess im in the flow of things and used to summer. Time is flying for me, especially the last week. I work in the heat of the day and sweat quite a bit. I dig dirt, plant plants, move rocks, cut things, etc. I landscape. I get up at 7 and return by around 6. I swim, I run, I do random other things depending on what day it is including card playing. I read books. Slaughterhouse 5 is good so far. The last 2 honor harrington books were fairly good; the last was sad. Montana? I hope so. There's a mountain called Tempest Mountain, near Granite Peak, that I think I could climb.
I've been revealing to Kansas folk the great lesson that I learned in college, and that is to "Calm.... Down..." (it's hard to type it how I say it). In most (It's impossible to give (almost) any advice without using a qualificaion of some kind) situations I've found, it is better to stay calm than to get worked up. In disagreements, debates, and most decisions, it is important to at least keep a calm voice.
Such advice is hard to give without providing examples, so here are a couple: 1 A certain mother was stressing over forgetting something on the way to an outdoor theater show. The evening was meant for merriment, not stress. The advice, "Calm... Down" was given and, I think, well taken. 2 A certain young man was surrounded by several belligerant folks at a party. He got punched in the face. He noticed that punching back would result in a possible swarm of belligerents, so he heeded the advice of , "Calm... Down" and got out of there.
Such advice is also useful in almost any disaster. Panic is a poor way to solve problems.
"Calm... Down" is not so much advice to remove emotion, but to just to control it in order to get things done, make things better, and make the best of a bad situation.
I suppose this all goes back to Aristotle with his whole moderation, doing things at the right place, in the right amount, at the right time. Christ College stuff doesnt seem to leave the mind very easily. I might need to write somthing about Kant in a month or two to get him out of my system too, if that's even possible.
I'm open to book reccomendations.
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| German shorthaired pointers are pretty cool. They can run for hours and not get tired. I swam in 2 ponds today, the water was warm 2 feet under but pretty cold 3 feet and below. I am currently unemployed and without a car. Hopefully I will be gainfully employed by the end of the month and with car by around july. I suppose I'll get a cell phone if I can't get a car. Maybe I'll get both. It sucks not to see valpo friends for 3 months but its nice to catch up on old friendships and hopefully make some new ones in town. I'll try to keep in shape and such. That might involve running 2 miles a day. We'll see if I can keep it up. I'm reading A Farewell to Arms its pretty good so far. They tell me in books like it that war sucks, I'll take their word for it.
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