Thursday Thirteen #21

13 things about Dane Bramage

The Photo Church Tour Edition
Well I have been swamped at work lately and some of you may have noticed I was attempting to write the worlds crappiest novel. (Those of you who noticed, my thanks for not mentioning how very little I got done towards my goal of 50K words.) Anyway I thought since I was going to be late this week with my T13 I would try something simple. So here are 13 thumbnails of my church, Heritage Baptist Church. It has been called by some "The most unique church in Ohio". We call it "The church in the Barn". This past weekend we had a special day called "Old Fashioned Sunday". I took some pics. I also added some shots from our "Chili Supper and Bake-Off" a couple weeks ago. To see the full picture just click on the thumbnail.

1. The doorman dressed for Old Fashioned Sunday


2. My Pastor and Robert E. Lee. Okay not Robert E. Lee but Brother George is an amazing facsimile.


3. One of our young men with the Pastor.


4. The foyer set up for Western Sunday. The hats were gifts to all the visitors.


5. The Ladies Trio singing "Old Style Preacher Man" on Old Fashioned Sunday


6. The Pastor and his wife.


7. The whole family got dressed up. What beautiful little girls.


8. One of our young couples.


9. This is our fellowship hall. We use it for special meetings and events. It goes along with our "Church in the Barn" motif.


10. Here we have singing just prior to eating at our Chili Supper and Bake-off which is one of the special events we have.


11. Another view of the fellowship hall. The wagon is ours too.


12. Everyone enjoying Chilis and stews, followed up by cakes, pies and cheescakes. It was tough voting on the winners.


13. We have our own school. This is the main schoolroom in the church lower level. We teach grades K through 12 and many of our graduates have gone on to college.

Well I hope you enjoyed the fifty cent tour. Stop in some Sunday and we will be glad to show you around the place.

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1. eve 2. KarenW 3. East of Oregon 4. Susan Helene Gottfried 5. my 2 cents 6. Skittles 7. beth 8. Barbara

9. Norma 10. Blonde Chick 11. Smurf 12. JAM 13. Terri 14. Melissa 15. Annamary 16. Lindsey

17. Wendy Ann Edwina D'Cunha e Pereira 18. Nathalitanis 19. Caylynn 20. Irish Church Lady 21. Dani 22. Chupieandjsmama

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


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X-Men Illustrator Dies in Superman Pajamas

Dave Cockrum, who revitalized the Xmen with new characters Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler died over the weekend from complications due to diabetes.

Wearing Superman pajamas and covered with his Batman blanket, comic book illustrator Dave Cockrum died Sunday.

The 63-year-old overhauled the X-Men comic and helped popularize the relatively obscure Marvel Comics in the 1970s. He helped turn the title into a publishing sensation and major film franchise.

Cockrum died in his favorite chair at his home in Belton, South Carolina, after a long battle with diabetes and related complications, his wife Paty Cockrum said Tuesday.

At Cockrum's request, there will be no public services and his body will be cremated, according to Cox Funeral Home. His ashes will be spread on his property. A family friend said he will be cremated in a Green Lantern shirt.

Click to see full image of Dave's Classic Xmen cover

I have been a fan of comics since I was a kid. Dave Cockrum was one of my favorite artists. I loved his work on the Legion of Superheroes and of course The Xmen. I think the news is trying to play up how much Dave loved comics by mentioning his pajamas and his blanket. But I think it is kind of sad. I am sure that other bloggers who are more informed on such matters will comment on how Dave created characters that went on to gross millions in comics, merchandise and movies and he had to struggle with finances in his later life. They will compare his situation, I'm sure, to the late Jack Kirby's.

I will just say that Dave had an impact on my life and he will be missed.

Thursday Thirteen #20

13 things about Dane Bramage

The Thanksgiving Edition
It is that time of year again. The time set aside by our forefathers to give thanks to God for the many blessings He has given us. I won't go into how the holiday has changed or how Americans don't seem to appreciate the bounty of this land and why we are so blessed ( a topic for another post,) I will just give you 13 things that I am thankful this year.

1. A good Fundamental Bible Believing Church


2. A good testimony


3. My own home


4. Family


5. Friends, near, far and cyber-connected.
   
6. A good job


7. Living in the greatest nation on Earth


8. Freedoms protected by the finest military in the world


9. Blogs to shoot my big mouth off on


10. The chance to rectify this month's electoral mistakes in two years


11. Like minded individuals who want to see America stay the greatest nation under God


12. I am so thankful to be saved and on my way to heaven.


13. The Word of God

A guest preacher said once

"I am so sick of Christians walking around with a defeated attitude! Haven't you ever just gone to the end of a book just to see how things turn out? I did with the Bible. And guess what? The Good Guys Win! That alone ought to put a smile on your face. We win. We have God's word on that."

So when you are fighting off the tryptophan induced coma's today, just remember that when it is all said and done, we as Christians will win because we are on God's side. And that is truly something to be thankful for.

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1. MommyBa 2. beth 3. Michelle at scribbit 4. Wendy 5. Susan Helene Gottfried

6. Irish Church Lady 7. JAM 8. Sanni 9. Skittles 10. KarenW

11. Brony 12. Norma 13. Susan Vigilante 14. You're next!

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


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Headlines Sidelined

Do you know how you some times develop a rhythm when doing certain things. And once you have done them for a while you get a groove going and it takes no time at all to do a job.  Well that’s the way it was with Headlines. I had a groove going. I’d find a news article and Blogger’s “Blog This” button would give me the code I needed to paste into my post and then I’d move onto the next news item. 

Well I went ahead and switched to Blogger Beta (or the New Blogger as they call it now). I have since discovered that “Blog This” does not work in beta. The help forums are crammed with complaints about the loss of this feature but not word on a fix. So now I have to develop a new groove. That just means it is going to take me longer to get the next batch of headlines out. Thanks for your understanding and patience.

Top Ten Reasons Why Liberals Hate Holidays

Dani sent me this link to her blog. I love the Top Ten Reasons Why Liberals Hate Holidays. But put your waders on if you read past the first comment. Liberals didn't find it too amusing.

From The Inbox

U Can't Stuff This A cute Thanksgiving Chuckle

Thursday Thirteen #19

13 things about Dane Bramage

The 13 Fun Facts About Ohio Edition
I am home from New Orleans and pretty much over the lousy election results. I thought in an effort to tell you more about me, I would tell you about where I live. I was born here in Ohio, right here in Akron which is in Summit County. Summit is the highest county in Ohio and Akron is the highest elevation in the county so I pretty much figure if my house on North Hill is flooding, the whole country is underwater. So here are 13 "Fun Facts" about Ohio.

1. Ohio became the 17th state in March of 1803.


2. Akron was founded in 1825 by Simon Perkins who is often confused with Marlin Perkins. Marlin discovered Wild Kingdom just a little bit south of here.


3. Chillicothe was Ohio's first capital city. It was later changed because Christopher Chilicothe hadn't discovered anything.


4. Cleveland became the world's first city to be lighted electrically in 1879. The power company is still waiting payment on the first electric bill.


5. Charles Goodyear of Akron developed the process of vulcanizing rubber in 1839. This allowed the rubber to live long and prosper.


6. In 1850 Sojourner Truth delivered her stirring speech, "Ain't I a Woman" to a convention of women. This led to Ohio being the first state to enact laws protecting working women. Over a century later Janet Reno posed the same question. The jury is still out.


UPDATE: The rest of the list is below the fold. Go to the end of the post and click "We want to read more!"


7. Ohio is known as the Buckeye State. Yes a buckeye is a worthless nut. But Ohioans know what a real buckeye is, and have a recipe for candy ones.


8. Marietta was Ohio's first permanent settlement. Founded in 1788 by General Rufus Putnam and named in honor of Marie Antoinette, then queen of France. The city eventually lost it's head


9. Oberlin College was founded in 1833.It was the first interracial and coeducational college in the United States. Thomas Edison invented the movie camera just so he could film the first "Girls Gone Wild" on Oberlin's campus


10. Akron was the first city to use police cars. Crime still ran rampant until gasoline was invented a couple years later.


11. Ohioans have the ability to spell words like Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas. They can properly pronounce the name of Portage County town Mantua.


12. W.F. Semple of Mount Vernon patented chewing gum on December 28, 1869. It promptly lost its flavor the next morning after being on the bedpost overnight.


13. John Mercer Langston is believed to have been the first African American elected to public office. He was elected clerk of Brownhelm in 1854. A riot almost broke out at the swearing in ceremony when the townsfolk realized "The clerk is a Ni"

Other fun things about Ohio, the local papers cover national and international headlines on one page but requires 6 pages for sports. Ohio has 4 seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Construction. Some well-known personalities were born in Ohio. Among them Steven Spielberg, Paul Newman, Annie Oakley, Arsenio Hall and Clark Gable. Long jumper DeHart Hubbard was the first African American to earn an Olympic Gold Medal. The award occurred during the 1924 Olympics games held in Paris. He set the record for long jumping. Jesse Owens grew up in Cleveland. He won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Paul Laurence Dunbar of Dayton is known as the poet laureate of African Americans. More presidents come from Ohio than any other state.

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1. Caylynn 2. amy 3.Nathalitanis 4. Susan Helene Gottfried 5. Christina 6. JAM 7. my 2 cents 8. Shaylondon

9. Miranda 10. Colleen Gleason 11. Melissa 12. carmen 13. Heather's Funny Thoughts 14. Chupieandjsmama 15. Amy 16. Barb

17. she 18. Andrea 19. Dani 20. N. Mallory 21. Mikala

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Arma Virumque Cano

Happy Birthday Virgil! Two years of Advanced Latin in high school and that's about all the Latin I remember from the Aeneid. That and "timeo Danaos et dona ferentis" which was uttered by the doomed Laocoon, who if I recall correctly was devoured by snakes sent by the gods.

BTW classic Latin in no way raises my nerdiness score.

Lightly Nerdy

THANK YOU

It is Veterans Day. I would just like to say thank you to all the veterans out there. I am thankful every day for the freedoms I enjoy. I know those freedoms come at a price. A price I did not pay, but others did and some still are. Thank You.

My friend Dave is a veteran and he said he wished that there was a Hug a Veteran Day. So I gave him a hug. Please don't tell his wife.

Thursday Thirteen #18

13 things about Dane Bramage

The 13 Fun Facts About New Orleans Edition
Well I am in New Orleans on business. I thought I would do some in depth research into the culture and background of this great historical city. Then the Democrats won big Tuesday and sapped the soul right out of me. So I thought I would just make some crap up.

1. New Orleans was founded in 1718 on the site of Old Orleans after hurricane Henrietta washed the old town out to sea.


2. Did you know that New Orleans is the only American city that was built below sea level? Consequently they do not bury their dead below ground. They store them near polling areas and trot them out every election day to vote. (I AM NOT BITTER!)


3. New Orleans is the only American City where the main language was French for more than a century. Now building the town below sea level is starting to make sense.


4. Ray Nagin, inexplicably still mayor of New Orleans, wants the rebuilt city to be a "chocolate city". After catching a lot of criticism, he said he would settle for a "fluffy nougat center city".


5. The city once boasted a robust mining economy and exporting oil, computers, and electronics. Today New Orleans produces porn and drunks and the primary export is poor minorities.


6. In 1803 Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of the U.S. with the Louisiana Purchase. It was later discovered that Napoleon only sold the land to get rid of New Orleans. He was allergic to crawdads and alligator sausage.


7. New Orleans is known as the Crescent City even though it's layout more closely resembles a toenail. The Big Easy refers to how readily servicemen can score on a weekend.


UPDATE: The rest of the list is below the fold. Go to the end of the post and click "We want to read more!"


8. At one time New Orleans had an extensive canal system, larger even than Venice. The Venetians succeeded though when they figured out that they shouldn't build their homes IN the canals.


9. The New Orleans tradition of Mardi Gras started in 1740 and was originally know as "The Running of the Hookers"


10. New Orleans boasts many unique music forms. However, Zydeco was almost destroyed by feminists who felt the frottoir was a sexist and demeaning instrument.


11. The cuisine of New Orleans is world renown. No where else is there so many ways to prepare spicy, savory, bottom feeders.


12. Whether you pronounce it "New Or-lins", "New Or-leenz", "New Or-le-ans", or even "Nawlins", SOMEONE in Louisiana will correct your pronunciation. I stole that one entirely from Harvey at Bad Example


13. New Orleans has more UFO sightings than any city it's size in the world. The number of sightings doubled after Katrina when it is believed that aliens mistook it for the lost city of Atlantis.

Well I hope you've learned something. Geez making things up is harder than actually researching stuff. And if you live here and were offended, I hope to be long gone before you make it down to the scenic Royal Sonesta Hotel and pound me into paste.

1. Andrea 2. Colleen Gleason 3. carmen 4. Oiive 5. Caylynn 6. Chaotic Mom 7. Chupieandjsmama 8. Nathalitanis 9. KarenW 10. JAM 11. Skittles 12. Blonde Chick

13. The Shrone 14. Tammy 15. Cindy Swanson 16. Barb 17. nat 18. Norma 19. Imperfect Christian 20. Random Yak 21. my 2 cents 22. Michelle in Mx 23. bernie 24. Dani

25. s@m 26. Crazy Politico 27. beth 28. My Twenty Cents Keeps Moving 29. My Twenty Cents Keeps Moving 30. N.Mallory 31. S.M.D. 32. Diaper Bag Diva 33. Titanium

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

And So It Begins

Things did not go well for me yesterday. Politically speaking of course. With about half of the registered voters in Ohio turning out, I did not like the election results. That liberal Strickland is now governor of Ohio. I can feel him reaching into my wallet already. The stinking minimum wage issue passed and now ambulance chasers for every disgruntled bum who ever got fired from my place of employment can gain access to MY PERSONAL EMPLOYMENT HISTORY whether I knew the jerk or not. And my company has to pay for that privilege! Arrrgh! Plus the smoke Nazis have won a victory as Ohio becomes Smoke Free! I haven't smoked for over 10 years and don't plan to restart but now business owners no longer have the option to provide smoking areas even if they want too.

The Democrats have retaken the house. They have retaken the senate. Pelosi and Reid make me want to puke. I predict higher taxes and a cut and run exit strategy from Iraq and those thoughts make me sick. Donald Rumsfeld has been asked to resign. Bush's lame duckness has grown exponentially.

Life was good when my team was in control. There were so many possibilities. But now I feel like my very life essence has been sapped. I absolutely shudder at the thought of whats going on in the liberal cesspool forums like the DU. And to top things off I have to switch to NEW blogger. It is a whole lot to take in at one time. It is almost enough to make me want to quit blogging.

But I am NOT a fair weather blogger. I will continue to champion the cause of Conservative African American Christian Men everywhere. It's just that right now my heart is breaking. Two years seems so far away, and yet as they say, a lot can happen in two years. Keep the faith. I will still be here poking fun at moonbats. Promise.

Get Out And Vote

Tomorrow is Election Day.  Be sure to get out and vote. Failure to do so means you forfeit all griping privileges until the next election. I have a friend who we will call John. John thinks politics is dumb because you can’t trust politicians. John does not vote because he thinks it is fruitless. John works as a trash can holder at a McDonalds Drive-Thru. You should have voted John.  Let that be a lesson to you all.

Thursday Thirteen #17

13 things about Dane Bramage

The 13 Books That just Came to Mind
A popular meme theme is books. I thought I would list 13 books or series of books and their authors that I have enjoyed. I am not a voracious reader and it's been years since I read some of these books. But they all have had some kind of impact on me.

1. Bible (Holy Spirit) I am surprised at the number of Christians who have never read through the Bible even once. My church encourages all of us to read through the Bible every year. We publish our monthly calendars with chapters and verses listed daily. It is easier than you think!


2. The Amber Chronicles (Roger Zelazney) My favorite fantasy series. There are 10 books and Roger didn't finish the story before he died. Don't you hate that?!


3. Dune (Frank Herbert) I was completely blown away by this book. I read the sequel but became too depressed to finished the series. The Sci-Fi Channel mini-series was better than the movie but both fell short of the book. Herbert is dead but others have continued the saga of Dune to this day.


4. Foundation Series (Issac Asimov) Classic Sci-Fi. A great read in my more formative years.


5. 1984 (George Orwell) A reading assignment for High School Lit but that in no way lessoned the book's impact.


6. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, quadrilogy, septilogy (Douglas Adams) I read the trilogy and laughed so hard I thought I would cry at times. Then I heard there was a fourth book in the series and rushed out to get it. That was twenty one years ago. Then Douglas Adams died. Last year I discovered that he had written a fifth book to his trilogy. Too bad the movie they made stank so badly.


7. Dead Zone (Steven King) It spawned a T.V. show so how bad could it be? The book was excellent from beginning to end. It was scary, not in the horror sense like some of his other books but in the sense of what evil a human being is capable of. You know, like a Democrat.


UPDATE: The rest of the list is below the fold. Go to the end of the post and click "We want to read more!"


8. Breakfast of Champions (Kurt Vonnegut) Today I think Kurt is a bit too liberal for my tastes politically. But I read much of his early stuff and always admired his ability to see things differently from most people. This book was banned, burned and caused no end of controversy for it's use of the N-bomb.


9. Lath of Heaven (Ursula K. Lequin) A post apocalyptic tale of a man with a unique power. I saw the PBS adaptation starring Harry Anderson (a dramatic role) and it prompted me to get the book which of course was better. That led me to read some of her other stuff.


10. Ghost Story (Peter Straub) What's the worst thing you've ever done?," followed by the response, "I won't tell you that, but I'll tell you the worst thing that ever happened to me...the most dreadful thing. I could not put this book down. Over twenty years later and I still think about this book. My most favorite horror story.


11. Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury) I think this was required reading if you were going to be a serious Sci-Fi fan. I remember being really excited about NBC doing a mini-series with Rock Hudson. I think they ruined it by trying to tie all the stories together.


12. Ringworld Engineers (Larry Niven) Talk about world building. Imagine a ring around a sun. Now imagine the engineering nightmare it would present to keep it at the correct distance. Niven didn't have to imaging. After writing "Ringworld" he would get calls in the middle of the night by fans who would scream "Ringworld is unstable!" and then hang up. Ringworld Engineers gave Niven an opportunity to address their concerns and further a truly imaginative story world.


13. Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison) You might think this is another Sci-Fi book and you'd be wrong. I read this book and remember it was the first one that made me angry about how people relate to one another. It fueled the angry black youth within me those three decades ago. An excellent book but not one all people can readily identify with. It deals with color, racism and identity.

So this is some reading material to hopefully keep you busy. Next week I hope to have a T13 from The Big Easy where I will be attending a business conference.

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1. Tracie 2. ribbiticus 3. Caylynn 4. carmen 5. Shoshana 6. Gattina 7. My Twenty Cents Keeps Moving 8. Gabrielle

9. shannon 10. my 2 cents 11. Norma 12. Janet 13. Christine 14. Colleen Gleason 15. Jane 16. Cindy Swanson

17. bernie 18. JAM 19. N. Mallory 20. KarenW 21. Dani

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It's easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Kerry's Insulting and Shameful Comments

Un-Freaking-believable! By now you no doubt heard Senator John "I married Money Twice" Kerry bad mouth our troops in Iraq. In ten seconds he opened his mouth and inserted both feet. Here it is if you missed it.



Well our Commander-in-Chief stepped up today and put his Presidential foot down, on Kerry's backside. He called Kerry's comments insulting and shameful. And President Bush demanded the wuss from Massachusettes apologize to all of our service men and women in Iraq. Here it is if you missed it.



Hat Tip chrys at petifogs.