Terry's 3M's

I think that I'd better get this written and up before my sister goes to work and my bro-in-law goes to borrow the printer from Mom in order to make up new business cards.

Before I get into anything else, I want to say that I haven't exactly been searching for new buttons during the last couple of days. Even tho' Geocities seemed to be running horrifically slow yesterday--or maybe that was partially from the problems with my isp--which kept disconnecting yesterday, I managed to correct the address and logo for the December backgrounds and I put the geoguide at the bottom of each of December's entries so that you won't be bothered with pop-ups on those pages. I still have November's entries and the last part of October's entries to correct. I will also be correcting some of the links (it appears that I forgot the next link on a few of October's entries).

I have also been trying to think of titles to go with each of the entries. That's because I want to make a new archive system that will make this place easier--or handier--to manoever around in. But, it might take me a while. I hope to have it done by the end of next month.

I am hoping to do an overhaul of the my links page during the summer as well. I am putting that information in here because I have noticed that it is difficult to keep the entries up to date while working on my main site.

I also have been continuing (actually, I jumped ahead a bit) my readings in the Apocrypha.

The book of Susanna was added to the Greek translation of the book of Daniel. It is the story of a woman falsely accused of adultry and Daniel's subsequent interference on her behalf.

Bel and the Dragon was also added to the Greek translation of the book of Daniel. Bel was an idol that was worshiped by the king of Cyrus. When Daniel refused to worship the idol, a test was devised to prove whether or not the idol was truly alive. When Bel failed the test, Daniel was allowed to destroy the idol and it's temple.

The dragon was also worshiped by these people. But, Daniel killed the dragon by feeding it something that reminded me of a Moltov cocktail...causing it's insides to explode. The people were furious that Daniel had destroyed their gods. And Daniel once again found himself in a pit of lions...and survived there for a week. (You'll have to read it for yourself to find out how he was fed during that week.)

For those who have forgotten, Heaven's Gate was the group of people in Southern California that committed suicide. If I remember correctly, they expected to be transported to heaven by aliens that would appear with the appearance of a certain comet. Or was it space ships that were to arrive on a certain date?

In any case, there are a couple of places where the protagonist's mother gets involved with groups that believe that the end of the world is eminent and that they are to be rescued from this and taken to heaven in flying saucers.

Coincidence? Precognition?

Personally, I don't think that it is either of these things. I just think that Stephen King is a keen observer of human nature, the human condition, and events and objects around him.

For instance, he mentions that Vera is a reader of Fate magazine. Now, I admit that it has been over 2 decades since I have seen an issue of Fate magazine. It was a small size magazine--shorter in height than Reader's Digest and about a third as thick. I don't remember all the articles...but, it had some very strange ads in the back. The classified ads could be an interesting read in themselves...religious artifacts, psychic readings and psychic churches, all the things you might expect to find in a magazine devoted to psychic phenomena.

Now, if King had read a few issues of this magazine as part of his research on religious mania, he may very well have come across an article about flying saucers and the hopes of reaching heaven by that means.

I wish that I were that observant. For instance, I've noticed that DVD's are advertised for sale all over the place. But, when did they become available for general use? Last year? The year before?

And when did VCR's become popular? Dishwashers were available in the 1950's. But, they were only for the rich. When did they become common? When did gasoline prices reach over a dollar a gallon? I can remember getting gas for 30 cents a gallon in 1970. And then there was the "gas shortage" and every other day fill-ups (depending on your liscense plate numbers) and the price of gas went up--but, it still was less than a dollar a gallon.

But, maybe it's just dates I have trouble with. I can remember the cost of beef going up around 1971 or 72. It went up to the unheard of price of about $4 a pound for steak! (You have to remember, tho' that minimum wage was about $1.65 an hour back then.) It was considerably cheaper to switch to fish. Now fish is more expensive than beef. But, when did the price of beef go back down?

Anyway, in the book, Johnny Smith comes out of a coma after four and a half years. It is amazing how the world changes in that short amount of time.

Four and a half years ago, I knew computers existed...but, the only person I knew that had one was my sister, Frances. It was basically used to store information on 5 and a half inch floppy discs. She used it to keep an inventory of things that she stored in boxes to be used when she moved out of Mom's house or got married. She also wrote letters, resumes, and other writings on the machine. She had a program that would allow her to make calendars and signs. But, nothing was in color and it had very little memory.

Well, I guess I'd better close this and upload it. I was interrupted while Faye checked her mail before work. And Delton is on his way back home with the printer. And it's almost 12:30 and while I've had a couple of cups of coffee, I haven't eaten yet.

Besides, I have to go supervise/yell at/discipline kids. Johnny was squirting Stephanie with a squirt gun (until I confiscated it) a minute ago. Carrie keeps getting out of her bedroom (which she is supposed to be cleaning) every couple of minutes. And Stephanie and Johnny have been having a fight with pens--making marks on each other. Just the average, typical day around here.