Forced Semi-fast

Posted on June 17, 2015 by ehurst

I’m the victim of pharmaceutical pollution and poisoning. Not that I plan any campaign or lawsuits; that’s not how the Lord moves me. Some of it is my own folly and ignorance during the time I could have prevented most of this. At this point, I wait on faith to tell me what God plans to heal, while I simply acknowledge that some things will never be fixed. Such is life. Context is everything and holiness is pursuing God’s moral character in the context.

So during “normal” healthy operations I would avoid fasting because it would actually be painful. I’ve tried it. But when something comes along and shuts down my digestion — such as it is — fasting is about all that’s left. Chances are that something I ate had wheat in it or some other GMO and food vendors are seldom honest about such things. They and the regulatory agencies are incestuous, a revolving door that ensures it’s all the same bunch of folks either way, all of them without a lick of moral conscience. God will handle them in His own good time.

So for the past few days I’ve been on a semi-fast. At first, I ate nothing until my stomach quit hurting so much. Now I’m eating about enough to make one meal over the course of the day. While I don’t recommend it as a weight-loss strategy, you can guess that I’m considerably lighter when the chute is all empty all the time. I currently run a high metabolism, so my system will burn some of whatever fat still hangs around.

But it leaves me rather weak and working out is pretty tough. Yesterday’s short 22-mile ride was harder than twice that distance is normally. Today’s yard work was one trip to the gravel pile for rocks to fill a soft spot, and nothing more. You get the picture. At my worst, I’m grouchy in the sense that I try to get people to leave me alone. It’s an instinct; I know I’m not good company and I hate pampering nursing. Let me suffer in silence.

I’m waiting on my system to reset and begin actually digesting food instead of merely passing it through. There’s nothing to gain by impatience and I refuse to whine. Instead, I’ll grouch and run you off.

What this means to you? The most important thing you’ll ever do is look in the mirror of God’s moral truth and recognize what sort of fallen nature you have and make the most of His blessings as well as His wrath. God’s active Presence in your life is a net good regardless of your subjective response. However, if you embrace what you are, it puts you in a far better position to learn His ways for you.

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Photo Log 7: Midwest City

Posted on June 16, 2015 by ehurst

Not many pictures today; bummer.

It should have been simple enough. I was going to ride west on SE 29th into Midwest City, around Tinker AFB and down to the bicycle entrance to Draper Lake. The whole trip would be about 20 miles, but once again, things didn’t turn out as planned.

SE29th2AndersonIt seemed worth the risk since the rain pattern was taking a break for awhile here. I rode off down SE 29th. As always, I have to cross somewhat hilly terrain to get anywhere. At one point, we cross that snaking watershed between the two branches of the Canadian River (the far crest in the picture). Two miles out things start to get easier, with a long slow descent between Westminster and Post Roads. Two more valleys with matching hills on either side and we hit the vast prairie on which Tinker AFB sits.

It was previously a Douglas Aircraft production plant running up to WW2, then passed to the US Government as a centrally located air depot. It was just about the only open prairie in the area at the time, several miles on each side. For a time, much of Midwest City’s existence was as a bedroom and shopping area for Tinker. The core of economic activity for the city is still Tinker.

The primary runway is north-south. At one time there was a problem with some of the aircraft crashing on the northern approach and destroying homes in the flight path. Eventually, the Air Force bought out the neighborhood just off the north end of the runway. What’s left is just a one-block strip on the west side of this square mile section. All the houses were removed, most of them built for adjunct base housing, anyway. It has since been fallow and allowed to grow wild over much of the concrete streets. The Zoomies use it for training to simulate wild terrain.

Back when REX 84 was still a popular subject with the underground militia types, one of the wild stories included this training area as a probable future FEMA camp. However, the real nuts insisted it was already built and ready to use. While there is a high chain-link fence around it, and the trees have gotten thick, you can see enough of the place to know that is pure hogwash. The rail lines running into the base as a whole are all out of service, slowly being dismantled as the railroads decide to recycle the steel. In other words, while just about anything can be strung up with enough tents and fence panels, this place is wholly unlikely to see FEMA use. It would take weeks just to make enough clear space for such an operation. Believe me — my job in the Army involved POW operations, and this place would be a huge pile of work and no good way to ship in large numbers of people as cheaply as the government tends to do such things.

TinkerShoppingMWCHowever, the entrance road to the south gate of this training area also connects to some back roads and such that allow me to get off the main thoroughfare. Right here just outside Tinker’s main entrance is easily one of the nicest shopping plazas in several counties. For some reason I can’t exactly explain, we see less predation than many of more expensive areas of the OKC Metro. None of the stores were open when I passed through, so I continued as far as the back routes would allow and rolled on down to Sooner Road.

This is one of those minor highways that has seen major traffic since before my time. Prior to the Interstate Highway System, it was a section of US Highway 77, pretty much the predecessor of I-35 here in Oklahoma. Sooner Road itself runs down south of Norman. To the north it merges with I-35 near Edmond, and reappears independently somewhere north of that, ending up around Guthrie.

TinkerBikePathThere is supposed to be a link with the Grand Boulevard Route, the Oklahoma River Route, and a few other loops in the Metro, but the various sections are hit-n-miss for now. Turning south on Sooner Road, we hit one of the earliest sections of these extensive bike trails. It’s old enough that the asphalt surface is cracked and has a few serious sags from soil subsidence. Right along the middle of this mile is the typical Zoomie propaganda art, just across from what used to be the Air Force Hospital Gate. It appears to depict the sequence of an AWACS plane doing what we see them doing just about every day: It comes down to the runway, doesn’t quite touch and takes off for another lap. I’m not sure if it’s testing the hardware, training the wet-ware (crewmen) or what, but it’s a fact of our existence. The flight pattern for this endless looping includes our trailer park at times.ZoomieArt

This street is also marked as an official bike route. In the second mile south you have the option of switching from the bike path to a sidewalk. While the Metro unified code says you can’t ride on the sidewalk in a business area, that’s really for urban areas. Out here in the suburbs, enforcement is nonexistent unless you threaten pedestrians, of which there are precious few most of the time. But come SE 59th and the bike route turns east again, clinging to the underside of the airbase. We get to see all those heavy industrial plants and the monster office buildings for companies like Boeing. At the old Air Depot Boulevard, we turn back south. I got to see the queue of trucks waiting at the truck gate and some of the older industrial buildings now devoted to military related contracting. At the end of this southerly mile run, we pass under the railroad tracks that used to feed the old GM Plant.

Back when GM was producing X-body cars (mostly Citations) it was one of the highest paid jobs in the state for regular blue-collar folks. Everyone else considered the workers pampered and whiny. Now the union hall stands empty, and after years of sitting vacant, the massive facility itself is owned by the Air Force. It was a great place of indoor storage and office expansion. (No, I can’t take pictures of anything that belongs to Tinker AFB without prior arrangement.) Oddly enough, the independent automobile railhead and storage yard across the street still received new cars not long ago.

This brings us across SE 74th and the I-240 underpass. It began to sprinkle just as I came within sight of the newest section of bike path. It runs over some open terrain that still gets mowed, and drops down onto the perimeter road for Draper Lake (seen in this last image viewed from the Draper perimeter road). But the rain started getting a little more serious. A cell call confirmed we were in for a heavier patch of rain rolling slowly up from the SSW. So I let it chase me back into the shopping area four miles back and made it into a speed workout. While there, I took advantage of the shelter and reconfigured my riding gear for a wet one. Riding in the rain isn’t too bad, but you have to make some adjustments or you’ll be more miserable than necessary.BikePath

So I came back out to my bike and the rain had quit. Well, nothing for it but to head home and end this trek for the day.

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Proverbs 14

Posted on June 15, 2015 by ehurst

Solomon’s theme here seems a matter of building a just and holy life.

1. A wise woman builds her house, but the foolish plucks it down with her hands. Back when Israel lived in tents, it was an ancient custom that the women would set up the family tent. It was very much her tent and her domain, though we should expect that servants and children, and perhaps even the husband, would set it up under her personal supervision. The implication here is taking responsibility for domestic operations. The wider effects of her actions can also serve to tear down the very thing she claims to build.

2. He who walks in his uprightness fears the LORD, but he who is perverse in his ways despises Him. The term for “upright” here is a Hebrew word meaning “contextually just.” The assertion is an equivalence, applying both ways. So is the opposite. The image is one who walks around the potholes on the highway versus one who wanders completely off the path.

3. In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise shall keep them. The usual Hebrew pun, comparing a stick with a hedge. By your own folly will your arrogant words provide the ammunition for your correction, but observing wise boundaries (“lips”) in your speech will provide a hedge of protection.

4. Where no cattle are, the stall is clean, but much gain is by the strength of the ox. This is no different from the modern, “You can’t have it both ways.” A simple life can be pure and clean, like the vacant stall and feed trough. But if you need stuff, it requires doing the extra work of having the means of production. An ox can pull the plow for you and it’s far more productive than pulling your own plow, but by implication it’s a lot of hassle.

5. A faithful witness will not lie, but a false witness will speak lies. What comes out of your mouth reflects what’s in your heart. The image is one who speaks carefully, trying to get the truth across, verses one whose very breathe (“speak” as in blowing) is the stink of deception.

6. A scorner seeks wisdom, and it is not found, but knowledge is easy to him who understands. Wisdom is invisible to a blind heart. A discerning heart has no trouble recognizing what God intended in any given situation.

7. Go from the before a foolish man when you do not see in him the lips of knowledge. Give people time to manifest their inner nature, but as soon as you discern there is nothing you can do to help someone, stop trying. The image is taking up a position on the opposite side from the fool.

8. The wisdom of the wise is to understand his way, but the folly of fools is deceit. Wise people keep an eye on the road ahead and keep trying to move in the right direction. Fools spend all their time in trying to pull people off that path.

9. Fools laugh at sin, but among the righteous there is favor. This continues the theme of the previous verse. Mocking the idea that some choices are sinful serves to sidetrack people from the Covenant call. Looking beyond the sophistry of semantic wrangling about the Law and keeping your eye on the moral purpose of revelation delights God, and by implication, all of Creation celebrates.

10. The heart knows its own bitterness, and a stranger does not share in its joy. This is an ancient figure of speech that is more subtle than the words indicate. On the one hand, only you and God can really understand what He exposes to the “mind” of your heart. Your personal sense of fallen nature and repentance is uniquely yours in the Presence of God. However, the joy of redemption can be shared, but not with someone who departs from a common moral commitment.

11. The house of the wicked shall be overthrown, but the tent of the upright shall be blessed. Picturesque imagery here points to the apparent well-planned life of those who reject a higher moral understanding, painting it as a solid stone house. But the storms of life will destroy such a life because it is built in defiance of Creation’s own moral fabric. Meanwhile, those morally upright could face the worst sorrows of life in a mere tent and still be standing when it’s all done.

12. There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end of it is the ways of death. This is a direct slam on trusting in human talent and intelligence to work out the mysteries of our existence. Reason alone is not enough; it’s a dead end road.

13. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that joy is heaviness. Another sample of intentional ambiguity common in Hebrew reasoning. It depends on the context. Life in this fallen realm is painful by default. You can laugh uproariously and try to ignore it, or you can chuckle and make the most of it, but you cannot change the fundamental nature of the Fall.

14. The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways, but a good man from himself. This is the essence of reaping what you sow. The word “backslider” is the image of someone who flinches when things get tough, so they always come up short of what they could have had from God’s blessings.

15. The simple believes every word, but the wise man watches his step. This is about cynicism. It’s not a question of obeying immoral laws and commands from earthly rulers, but a matter of discerning the moral results of what the government is trying to sell, and preparing in your heart to handle the outcome.

16. A wise one fears and departs from evil, but the fool rages and is sure. This echoes the previous verse. At the earliest opportunity a wise person bails out on folly, but the fool loudly convinces himself that he’s a good member of the team — but the wrong team.

17. He who is soon angry acts foolishly, and a man of wicked plots is hated. What difference does it make if you are impulsively stupid or just plain evil? You can apologize for your hasty mistakes, but you can’t apologize for rejecting moral truth. There is no sacrifice for moral rebellion.

18. The simple inherit folly, but the wise are crowned with knowledge. We’ve all met people who believe life can be managed with simple rules and buying into some logical scheme for prosperity. It’s a lot more work to became well acquainted with the moral fabric of reality and keep checking yourself against that divine mirror. Reality itself is a living and moving thing, so the job is never done until life is done.

19. The evil bow before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous. An example of Hebrew parallelism, we know this is not literal, but a figure of speech. When God’s wrath moves in the world, the only refuge is in the shadow of those who welcome His wrath as a cleansing blessing.

20. The poor is hated even by his own neighbor, but the rich has many friends. Typical Hebrew sarcasm and wit, we know that people get tired of the perpetual needy beggar. People will avoid such them. But if you are rich, you’ll never have a moment to yourself. Solitude is expensive one way or another.

21. He who despises his neighbor sins, but he who has mercy on the poor, happy is he. A response to the previous verse: On the other hand, if you can’t understand the blessings of family and community, even at the cost of supporting them, you’ll never have much blessing from God. Thus, joy is also expensive, but worth the cost.

22. Do not those who think evil go astray? But mercy and truth shall be to those who think of good. This paints the image of thinking in terms of devising and making plans. If your plans are contrary to the moral character of God, they’ll keep changing and never quite work out. This is typical of people with some rarefied vision of whatever human logic can produce, always bent on something surely possible, if only they can avoid someone who doesn’t get it spoiling their plans. If your plans are to bring God glory and respond to His whims, you can expect His mercy and stability (“truth”).

23. In all labor there is gain, but the talk of the lips tends only to poverty. This is simple enough: Walk the talk. If all you are working is your jaws, nothing will come of it.

24. The crown of the wise is their riches of wisdom; the foolishness of fools is folly. In translating this, Green gets it right. The focus is not on material gain, so while the Hebrew here simply stops at saying “wealth,” it implies the richness of moral discernment. The morally vacant wear their folly like a crown, though it seem more like a dunce cap to others.

25. A true witness delivers souls, but a deceitful witness speaks lies. The image is the contrast between pulling in or blowing out. A faithful testimony of moral truth will change people’s lives, but a scheming deceiver is a blow-hard who doesn’t accomplish anything.

26. In the fear of the LORD is strong hope, and His sons shall have a place of refuge. This reverberates into the very real difference between Eastern serenity and Western angst. To walk in moral commitment from the heart is due reverence. It promises that you have nothing to fear in this world He made, because His revelation is entirely consistent with how reality works. This kind of inner peace tends to affect everyone in your sphere of influence.

27. The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life to turn aside from the snares of death. Continuing the thought in the previous verse, it offers a play on words not obvious in English. The “fountain” is from the root word for a well you dug to preserve life, whereas the snare is trap in the form or a pit. What is the purpose of your digging into this life? Embracing the moral character of God will help you discern which is which as you travel through life.

28. In the multitude of people is the king’s honor, but in the lack of people is the ruin of the prince. The primary difference between Hebrew feudalism and that of the West is that the former considers people the primary store of value. It matters not how much land and resources you own if your rule tends to kill your people. Your people come first; their social stability is the purpose for which God grants the authority to rule. Rule justly and He will provide everything else necessary for life.

29. He who is slow to wrath is of great understanding, but he who is hasty of spirit exalts folly. This is an ancient truth, expressing the model of the shepherd character. Punishment is what you pull out when all else has failed and there’s nothing left. God advertised this as His own character.

30. A sound heart is the life of the flesh, but envy the rottenness of the bones. The word “sound” here is the image of medicinal and helpful. A heart committed to giving and solving problems will make your own body healthy, too. A mind given to petty envy and always thinking that life is unfair will kill you from the inside.

31. He who presses the poor curses his Maker, but he who honors Him has mercy upon the poor. The image for poverty here emphasizes dependence by necessity, someone who is simply unfortunate in the human context. If your instinct is to take advantage of them in any way, you are poking God in the eye. As He has mercy on you, so shall you extend mercy to others as your first reflex.

32. The wicked is driven away in his wickedness, but the righteous has hope in his death. Without an active and intelligent heart ruling your life, death is fearful. If your heart is alive and committed to God’s moral truth, death is just a circumstance.

33. Wisdom rests in the heart of him who has understanding, but among fools it is made known. Much of this is lost in translation. The image is wisdom soaked deep into the core of someone who embraces moral justice; you might not notice it right away because they tend to act with discernment. However, a fool is empty and their whole existence and nature is fully exposed for all to see.

34. Righteousness lifts up a nation, but sin is a shame to any people. This is a matter of emphasis and context. God’s revealed standard of justice requires starting first and foremost with Ancient Near Eastern feudalism; this is how we are designed. Even a Gentile nation properly organized by that standard and tends to adhere to moral justice is a blessing and destined for greatness; God uses them for His glory. But rejecting divine justice is an insult to our Creator regardless how well organized and resourceful any random group might be.

35. The king’s favor is toward a wise servant, but his wrath is against him who causes shame. Related to the previous verse, the word “king” portrays an office not much like the Western image attached to the word. This tends in Hebrew culture to be the most vigorous elder and implies a capable warlord from your family, clan or tribe. This is the ruling office as vested by God; it is the basic assumption in all His Law Covenants. God backs him up despite his human frailties, so if you embarrass your own blood kin on the throne, you can be sure God is not too happy with you, either.

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Conquest Evangelism

Posted on June 15, 2015 by ehurst

It’s not as if Jesus never used military metaphors. The problem is how we read our militarism back into His comments. Perhaps you may have heard a very popular worship song from the 1980s, “Blow the Trumpet in Zion.” It quotes from Joel 2. I’ve mentioned “Joel’s Army” in the past. It’s actually a prophecy of destruction on Jerusalem; this “army that carries out His Word” is there to punish His people for their sins. Yet the words are yanked out of context and Israeli officials are quick to accept the money that comes from an extravaganza like this:

Stirring music and imagery, no? I want no part of that. These people do not know my Savior. They do seem rather familiar with standard American political orthodoxy and culture. It’s the sort of evangelism that sounds just like this:

The dog-pack instinct is most intense in the elite outfits, SEALs and Force Recon and Special Forces, with tightly-bonded small groups—the focus of males—working together. Powerful free-floating hostility characterizes the, and patriotism gives them a cover story for doing what they would want to do anyway.

Loyalty to a small band of warriors is easily transferred to an abstraction such as country or religious faith. Witness the fervor of Muslims today, or the enthusiasm for Christianity of illiterate Crusaders in the eleventh century who knew little of Christianity and certainly didn’t follow its moral precepts. Being swept up in a Cause gives an appearance of meaning to a life otherwise devoid of such. The flags, the hurrahs, the rhythmic thump-thump-thump of hundred of boots, the solidarity—these reinforce the pack instinct, and recruiters and politicians know it.

What ever happened to setting the captives free? Whatever happened to “peace on earth” in Our Savior’s birth? Yes, it was a peace in the heart, not of the flesh, but a peaceful heart is repulsed at warfare. Jesus Himself said it so clearly: “What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is Spirit” (John 3). His Father said, “My ways are not your ways” (Isaiah 55:7-9). The ways of human politics cannot accomplish the work of God, which is why Jesus was a draft dodger — He literally dodged folks who were trying to draft Him as king. His kingdom was not of this world.

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Can You Smell?

Posted on June 14, 2015 by ehurst

One of my high school teachers was on a trip to some big city here in the US. Early one morning as he was driving through this big metropolis, he stopped at a light where some small kid was hawking the local fat Sunday newspaper from a traffic island. “Buy a paper!”

My teacher leaned out the window and said, “I can’t read.”

The kid never hesitated. “Can you smell? It’s all bullshit anyway! Buy a paper!”

So it is today with much of what I see in the news. I had a friend who told me he’s not worried about government snooping because he has nothing to hide. This was after I had learned the ultimate level of cynicism as a Military Policeman. I told him, “The government that lies about snooping on you is the same government that will tell lies about what it found if it decides you are in the way.” I’ve can’t count how often I was ordered to write a report making someone out to be dangerous or harmless using facts that could be slanted either way. We’ve seen it in the past couple of years, people who were arrested on pure lies and put away for things they could not have done. It’s bad enough people are prosecuted for things that should not be crimes in the first place.

There is no accountability and the fiction of accountability is falling away before our eyes.

When Kaspersky told us about finding Duqu 2.0 on their systems, they provided enough data to make it at least plausible. When the US OPM claimed it had been hacked, no proof was offered. When it claimed the Chinese had done it, even less proof was offered. Now we are told UK’s MI6 is pulling its spies from Russia and China because, not only did they get their hands on Snowden’s cache of documents, but decrypted them, too.

Again, no proof is offered. Then again, I’m not too sure about Snowden and his handlers, either.

Whatever is actually going on, you can bet it’s planned to harm us, and the plutocrats don’t want to admit just how damned evil they are. No, there’s not much you can do, except take your cue from David. In our recent Bible lesson, David refused to use his 600 troops and his superior tactical genius to attack Saul or those who betrayed him. It’s not that he had qualms about warfare; we know better than that. Rather, he knew his calling and what divine justice required of him.

Trust God for things clearly in His hands. Don’t be a nuisance. Be prepared to step out the path of destruction as it sweeps through — and it surely will. Commit yourself to God’s moral character; learn to see His wrath as a blessing in your life. And don’t buy the bullshit.

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Psalm 54

Posted on June 13, 2015 by ehurst

David wrote several psalms while fleeing Saul’s hand. This refers to the narrative in 1 Samuel 23. In this case, David with his private army was hiding somewhere south of Hebron, in the open country near the village of Ziph (named after a grandson of Caleb of Conquest fame). Aside from the usual limited foraging, David would order his troops to protect his own nation and raid those who were hostile. He also kept basic criminal elements in check. In gratitude, some of shepherds would offer such food as they could. In other words, David actively pursued God’s justice despite tough conditions. As such, he was hardly a threat to the locals and an active protector of the people in ways Saul could not be bothered, so it’s hard to understand this sort of betrayal by the town leaders.

David begins with a plea that God keep him free for the sake of His own glory. It’s an entirely reasonable request under God’s revealed Law, because David is committed to the Law from his heart, so he is quite willing to be measured by God’s standards for him. He asks that God put His hand to His ear so as not to miss a thing. David’s enemies are described as those who have strayed from the Covenant while holding the power to harm him.

We note that, as usual, David has no desire to use his overwhelming military forces and his prowess to take revenge on the Hebrews living in Ziph. As with Saul, let God be the judge of those He placed in authority.

But of course, David takes refuge in a God who had yet to fail him. “Behold!” When David reviews the number of folks who have supported him all this time, he finds God among them. We should read this as David finding God in their hearts and God quite literally on his side. How could it be otherwise when David is so determined to please his Lord?

We have no idea how it played out in history, but David calls on God to judge the tribal elders of Ziph by the same standard He uses on David and the rest of Israel. Since they have attempted to trap David, let them fall into their own trap. For His glory alone should God punish them.

Meanwhile, David is planning an appropriate freewill offering. Along with this will be a public profession of gratitude for God’s faithful protection. This is always a good thing in its own right, regardless of how God handles this problem. And when has God not given David victory in pursuit of divine justice?

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Photo Log 6: Almost Thunderbird

Posted on June 13, 2015 by ehurst

We’ll mark this up as “good training” again because I couldn’t get to the destination.

This route is more about mental discipline than physical. It’s tough enough, but aside from a jog at the start and end, it’s one long slog in a straight line south from SE 29th to Norman’s Alameda Drive. That’s 14 miles pedaling in one direction, for a total round trip of around 35 miles. But it was not to be.

FloodingChoctawStellaOvernight heavy thunderstorms had me wondering if I could go at all. However, a check of radar analysis indicated the worst I’d face is a few sprinkles, maybe a light shower, and so it was. I was more wet from my own perspiration in this muggy dampness; even the road splash did more than the precipitation. There was plenty of water on the road, with several places where localized flooding ran over the pavement, often leaving deposits of sand and gravel.

BedrockChoctawnrIndHillsMy home is very near the watershed between the “South” Canadian and North Canadian Rivers. Consider the geology in this area: massive layers of hard-packed reddish sandstone, cut by various small water courses. Aside from the valleys, most of the foliage is rooted in a fairly thin layer of soil atop this hard surface. It’s quite solid enough to make excellent foundations, but soft enough that power equipment can dig through it with ease.

So if you’ve been following these little journeys, you could guess by now that Hog Creek and its branches constitute a major land feature around here. It runs south to form a major arm of Lake Thunderbird, and it happens that most of our run down Choctaw Road is parallel to Hog Creek one side or the other. Given all the tributaries and heavy rains overnight, it’s no surprise the creek is at flood stage today and water hiding the several culverts under the road where it crosses our path.HogCreekChoctaw

Otherwise, there was only one partial washout along the way. Starting from my preferred diversion to SE 29th Place, this is the only time I turn south on Choctaw Road. It’s usually pretty busy, but Saturday morning isn’t so bad. One mile down we run into the one section so far that has been widened into four lanes, along with some nice grading that raised the creek bottom up about eight feet. So it was pretty easy until we climbed the approach to Interstate 40.

FormerlyHeinsThis is the scene of some serious tornado damage back on 10 May 2010. There were two truck stops on opposite corners back then. On the southwest corner was Anderson’s, formerly known as Heins and quite a full service operation from before my birth. On the northeast corner down on a lower elevation was a newer Love’s Truckstop. This is the best single presentation of what happened that day, a video showing the damage. Anderson, owned by Pilot, was rebuilt on the same site, but Love’s abandoned theirs and crossed to the other side of Choctaw to perch on higher ground.LovesChoctaw In the image to our left here, viewed from the south side of I-40, you can just detect the low spot of their previous site on the right side of the picture.

From here on out the hills get awfully rough until we get to Stella Road, the boundary between far SE OKC and Norman. This is the gateway to Lake Thunderbird from this direction.ChoctawStellaS

You have to understand something: Oklahoma was established during the Progressive Era represented by good old Teddy Roosevelt. It featured the early “scientific” approach to fixing everything in the world, the birth of very forceful intervention into every human concern. Norman is mostly about the campus of OU (University of Oklahoma), a hothouse of relative liberalism and social justice warriors. The folks here are just the type to have enthused about introducing kudzu, which is now an ecological disaster. So when I crossed the boundary, I wasn’t too surprised to find it smelled differently, and the roadside foliage was a different mix entirely. Some of it was the same as what’s just north of Stella Road, but native stuff is missing and something else in its place. I have no proof, but the entire rest of the way to Alameda feels alien and uncomfortable for me.

I saw the road closure signs, but you never know just how bad it is. I’ve managed to cross a couple of them easily in the past couple of weeks, so I thought it was worth a shot. I got two miles to Indian Hills Road, and just below in the next bottom found this washout. While the crews had delivered the replacement “tin-horns” as we call them out here, no actual work had been done. I suppose I can check back in the fall, but I’m sure it’ll be awhile before they fix this, given how very many I’ve already seen all over three counties. Not once has there been any sign of repairs starting because they are low priority routes, and it’s already three weeks from when they all washed out.WashoutnrIndianHills

So there was nothing for it but to turn around and head back. The hills for the Norman portion are relatively easy, but between Stella and I-40 were several brutal climbs. Choctaw Road is different from other roads in this area running north and south. Here the big money is not farming or cattle, but horses. There are at least three spread along the way that are easy to see. While only one still has horses (seen here on the right), easily the most expensive property for several miles in any direction, none of them is suffering from neglect.HorseRanchSE89thChoctaw The other big money is likely from a high density of building contractors with huge steel building shops and rows of specialized equipment parked back in the trees. You would think just about every third home site has now, or has had in the past, at least one welding rig.

I still got a whale of a workout.

Addenda: Just the next day after I took this journey and these pictures, one of the tributaries running into Hog Creek that runs across that horse farm that I shot (the yellow mansion) flooded when a very large pond two miles upstream broke its dam. The resulting heavy load of water ran across SE 89th just east of the house in a low spot, flooded further his already overflowing ponds and made Hog Creek really flood the valley downstream around SE 104th, rising into a few houses there. It took some hours for all the water to run down to Thunderbird.

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Admin: Alpine Multiple Accounts

Posted on June 13, 2015 by ehurst

Linux nerd alert: When I closed the static website, I knew there would be some loose ends. One is that folks keep coming here looking for links to a tutorial I had on setting up multiple accounts on Alpine, a console email client. What follows is the quick-n-dirty tutorial I wrote.

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Alpine with Multiple Accounts

This is a brief tutorial on configuring Alpine to handle all your various email accounts as a full-featured email client.

First, you may know Alpine does not have built-in POP access. However, it can be made to mimic this, which is a primary feature we need for multiple accounts. What we are doing is persuading Alpine to treat your inbox on the provider’s server the same as a local inbox. But we give Alpine a local inbox into which it copies the contents, then erases it from the distant server. We call the local a “drop folder.”

I came upon this information from another party, but their page has disappeared from the Net. Unable to duplicate their excellent tutorial, I offer here a quick and dirty configuration guide via direct editing of your Alpine configuration file (~/.pinerc). Start Alpine one time from the command line and you’ll probably have that configuration file.

Incoming Drop Box

Dropping down to around line 400, you’ll find a reference to “List of incoming msg folder” — we need to begin our first additions here. All I can do is offer a sample line and parse it so you can modify it to meet your needs. Everything is appended to the line which begins:

incoming-folders=

I’m using my Cox Cable line as an example. Please note this line is wrapped here in this plain text format, but is a single long line in the config file:

Cox "#move {pop.cox.net:995/novalidate-cert/user=user00/pop3/ssl}Inbox Cox"

The first “Cox” is my name for the local role name. This allows me to separate the various SMTP servers by role so that I can select which role account I want to use for a particular message, either in composing or replying. You can call it what you like, but I prefer to keep things simple.

There is a space following this drop folder name, and the rest is inside double quotation marks. The next item is the command for Alpine to move whatever follows into that drop folder — #move. There is another space following.

In curly brackets is the information necessary to access that remote folder on your provider’s server. In this case, pop.central.cox.net is what my provider tells me is the correct server address. This is secure POP, so the port is 995; the colon is standard notation. This portion is closed by a forward slash.

Because of frequent mismatches between the security certificates on most servers and the actual machine name, we add a setting to tell Alpine to ignore this — novalidate-cert followed by another slash.

Then we have the user name which must be passed to the server for access to the correct mail box — user=. Please be careful to use the proper format required by your provider. In some cases, it would be the entire email address. For the likes of GMX in Europe, it’s easier to use the account number they issue when you open the account. This is followed by another slash.

We next tell Alpine which protocol to use for communicating with the server; in this case it’s pop3. And it’s secure, so after another slash we mark the ssl protocol. It’s rare to see a mail server not using it these days. This part of the statement is finished, so we close with the other curly bracket.

Finally, we tell Alpine the name of the inbox, which is separate from the built-in Alpine INBOX. Indeed, the drop folders are in my home directory, a mail file simply named “Cox” in this case. I can view it using the ‘less’ command (or with any editor) without having to open Alpine. Finally, close the whole thing with the final quotation mark.

To add any other accounts after this, I simply add a comma to this line, and each additional line that is not the last line. After the first line, subsequent lines should be indented with a TAB character, not spaces.

SMTP Roles and Accounts

Alpine handles SMTP connections natively, so this is less complicated in one sense, but the configuration line is longer. We have to be sure the incoming role name matches with an outgoing role name. We drop down to below line 530 or so, and find the item which begins with “Patterns and their actions…”

Again, the sample is from my Cox account, and is line-wrapped for this explanation, but all on one line in your .pinerc. This part is written differently because it relies on internal controls Alpine already understands, whereas the drop box business is passing an argument which Alpine sends literally to the distant server. This is one long line:

LIT:pattern="/NICK=Cox/FLDTYPE=SPEC/FOLDER=Cox" action="/ROLE=1/FROM=First Last /SMTP=smtp.cox.net:465\/novalidate-cert\/ssl\/user=user00/RTYPE=NC/FTYPE=YES/CTYPE=NO"

Each line like this must begin with the LIT:pattern= portion so Alpine knows what to do with it. Everything which follows is between two pairs of double quotation marks. Next is the label NICK= and mine is Cox again, noting the role name. Next is a slash and the marker FLDTYPE=SPEC which is simply internal labels for Alpine to match this to the previous configuration for incoming drop boxes. It’s followed by another slash, then the label FOLDER= to match this role to my Cox incoming drop folder. Close this portion with the other double quotation mark, then insert a space.

Next, we tell Alpine what to do with this information: action=. The rest of the line is all inside another pair of double quotation marks. We are matching this role from incoming mail above to a similar role for sending. Drop in a slash, then ROLE=1 to match one for one. Another slash and we identify the role by the FROM= label.

In this case it’s your common name, a space and a fake address to remind you to use your own, but this time the full format which needs to appear in the headers of your outgoing messages. Thus, the email address is in angle brackets as you often see in email messages.

We place another slash followed by SMTP= for the server name your provider tells you to use. As before, we use a colon to mark the standard SSL secured SMTP port of 465.

Then we must place a backslash because that’s how Alpine parses this portion of the configuration line. It “escapes” for the next forward slash — \/. Then we have the novalidate-cert because, as above, most servers hold a certificate which does not match all the various aliases to which it answers. Another double slash and we tell Alpine this requires the SSL secure connection.

Then we add another double slash and give the login user name your provider requires.

We drop the double slash business now. The rest is internal labeling for Alpine’s use, and is required: /RTYPE=NC/FTYPE=YES/CTYPE=NO and close it with another double quotation mark. As before, each subsequent added line for a separate account must have a TAB character prefixed, because that’s how Alpine knows to process this as an additional account.

For the rest, you can probably figure out how to configure Alpine to your tastes by exploring the opening menu. Don’t forget, you can tell Alpine to use various display colors, but on the console, you only get 16 colors, so far as I can discern. See Menu > SETUP > Kolor (or type sk at the menu prompt). There are more options under ‘SETUP > Configure’ than you’ll ever need. Each one is explained if you hit the ‘?’ mark while the cursor rests on the option in question, but I can’t guarantee you’ll understand it.

Also note, some distros (such as Red Hat/Fedora) compile with a standard password file Alpine can use to save your passwords. Yes, this is a security risk if you aren’t the only one using your machine, but the passwords are saved in a hashed format not be easily deciphered. I believe RHEL and clones use .alpine.passfile, while Debian and clones use .pine-passfile.

Have fun with Alpine!

(This tutorial is public domain.)

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Quick GIMP-ing Tricks

Posted on June 12, 2015 by ehurst

I don’t pretend to be a photographer or graphics artist; I’m just a guy telling stories and adding a few pictures. I’m hardly a master of GIMP or any other kind of image editing software. I don’t have the interest to pursue it very far. My camera use doesn’t justify spending big bucks on really good equipment. The whole reason I bother with taking pictures and posting them here is to help you understand better some of the things I’d like to tell you, so I will try to make the most of what I have.

Aside from any skill and/or talent for pointing the camera and capturing the view, there are some things we can do to enhance the resulting images. Most of these less expensive cameras will leave you with images that need a little adjustment.

1. Cropping — So far the single biggest thing is cropping out extraneous material. For example, you’ll notice I trim the sky in most of my pictures. And most of my landscapes are long and narrow because the point of the shot is the road, for example. Play with the idea and don’t be afraid to undo such edits until you get what you want. GIMP offers a simple cutting tool. In the palette that usually opens on the right side, it’s the first tool in the upper-left corner. For most of us it’s simplest to start in one of the upper corners of our intended crop and drag to get what you want. If it’s not right, select “Edit” in the window menu of the image and the first item should be to undo whatever you did last. Once you have a box drawn that contains what you want, go to “Image” in the menu and select “Crop to selection.”

Save the image in the native GIMP format for now, and give it a meaningful name.

2. Light — Most cameras get this wrong. In the menu line, select “Colors” and then “Brightness-Contrast…” A small control window opens and you can move it so you see the results. As always, you can undo anything as previously discussed, or simply dismiss the changes with the “Cancel” button. With most digital camera images, I’ve found the image needs a little less brightness and a little more contrast. Move the sliders left for less and right for more. When you adjust them just a little as I described, you generally end up with richer colors and sharper details.

3. Other color controls — I’ve occasionally felt the need to adjust color balance and hue saturation. These are more difficult to explain and you’ll simply have to experiment, but it’s also an interesting way to customize and make it more artsy if you like.

4. Format — There are dozens of digital formats for images. While I like the way PNG turns out for handling, it’s fatter than JPEG (.jpg) so if storage size matters, stick with the latter. The native GIMP format is XCF and that’s fine for storage if you suspect you’ll need to mess with it again. You’ll find that GIMP can open a wide array of formats and can export to them, but you need to specifically look for the term “export” in the File menu when you want to save in the non-GIMP formats. It defaults to PNG exports, but if you keep using JPEG, it tends to remember that.

To be honest, I’ve spent more time trying figure out how to change images someone else created so I can adapt them for my own use — always with proper permission, of course. I’ve also had to do things like rotate images that were saved sideways (see “Image > Transform” or “Layer > Transform” in the menu). I just barely grasp how GIMP assigns layers, but I’ve been able to find tutorials that get me what I really thought I had to have.

The point is that GIMP does more than any of us individually will ever know and care about. The few simple adjustments outlined here can really make a big difference in helping others see what you see.

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Odds and Ends

Posted on June 11, 2015 by ehurst

Odds and Ends

There have been at least two folks ask me for help with recent “Patch Tuesday” updates for Win7. It’s mostly patches failing or borking something else. The few times I could stand to run Win7 on any of my machines, it was this sort of trouble that convinced me what a mistake it was. When patches fail for any reason, no one has a clue why. I’ve scoured the discussion boards, including those hosted by Microsoft, and the answers vary so widely I can’t even begin to guess. I’ve come to the conclusion that both the OS and the patches are far more complicated than MS developers can track. It’s the only OS I know of where patching is so very likely to break to stuff, and it’s been like that for years, all the way back to Win98, at least.

I don’t know what to make of Kaspersky being hacked, though I have no doubt it was Israel who did it. I suppose it’s typical of the crazy habit of never leaving well enough alone, but pushing for that last vestige of control, which they hardly know what to do with in the first place. Hitting the premier voice in Windows security was a stupid risk, and this time it will come back to haunt the folks who sent it. I’m not offering odds on how any of this will turn out, but I’m convinced it will get nastier than anyone now imagines. I’m not fearful, just watching the whole thing with some amusement, because there’s really nothing else I can do.

trailer-moverNot precisely sure, but our home rests inside a mobile home park that is easily near my own age. It’s been upgraded from the old days, and expanded somewhat. There are nearly 200 spaces now, but the roads have never been widened, of course. My home is 13 years old and was considered quite large back then at 16′ wide (4.8m). You won’t see mobile home towing trucks except on the highways these days. Now they have another way of dragging them down these narrow streets and through tight turns, then backing them onto the pad. This is a remote-controlled drone tractor. The operator simply walks along in front of it keeping an eye on clearances.

3800blkSHenneySo far I’ve been unable to get anyone to explain why our park and some of the surrounding land has never been annexed into any municipality. We are under county jurisdiction. Sewage is now handled by Midwest City (boundary just to our west); solid waste by contract with poor service at times. Schools and mail are Choctaw. A couple hundred acres just north of us is also out in the county. Ten years ago someone plowed down street lanes, but development ceased at that and it has remained a private hunting reserve since. I get the impression none of the cities want this land, but there is much development all around us. This picture is the 3800 block of South Henney Road, just a mile from here. This time last year it was untouched fallow forest. This time next year the first houses will be occupied. New houses and developments are going up all the time out here, and some of the old ones are expanding. This is no buyers’ market out here; the economy here is pretty strong.

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