OUR AMERICAN FLAG IS WEEPING TODAY - A Meme About Racial Violence

Copyright 2014, Porter Versfelt III

The Secret Lives of Teachers - Not What You May Think

     Many teachers in the United States remain at their school until 6, 7 or even 8 o'clock at night writing lesson plans, fulfilling school district, state and Federal education bureaucratic requirements and mandates, and many take their work home with them on the weekends. God love the teachers who have emotional and physical energy, and time, left over to lead "secret lives". But, some do, and that ultimately benefits their students.

     "The Secret Lives of Teachers" is an interesting new reporting series from National Public Radio about what America's public school teachers do in their spare time.

"The Secret Lives of Teachers" - National Public Radio

Copyright 2014, Porter Versfelt III

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State." 

1802 January 1. (Thomas Jefferson to the Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut).
From: http://www.monticello.org

With Free Speech Comes Responsibility

I have a Christian friend who is a photojournalist in Pakistan. I will not reveal name, etc. to protect this person's safety. But a message today sent to me by my friend touched my heart and I believe what my friend writes is reflective of so many people around the world and what they think about the USA.

My take is that in this day of high tech communications, the truth and facts still don't always get to everyone. My friend and many others believe that the anti-Islam film upsetting Muslims around the world right now was created by the United States government. I have assured my friend that the film was done by an individual and not by our government. I also reminded my friend about our concept of "free speech" and the 1st Amendment to our U.S. Constitution. But I added that with free speech comes responsibility and one should always consider whether what you say will hurt others. There ARE limits to free speech.

I believe that having and expressing opinions is good as long as those opinions are based on fact and fairness. The film in question played fast and loose with both and it is making all Americans look bad and hurting our national security and commerce.

I just wanted to say all of this to my fellow Americans this morning to remind you that there are many around the world who still believe in the United States of America, it's core concepts and principles, and what we stand for. "The shining beacon on a hill" as President Reagan has said. 

I think we should read what my friend says below and be humbled. We should stop our petty fighting amongst ourselves in this election season and recognize that we have a responsibility to our nation, ourselves and to the world, to be our very best and remain that beacon on a hill. Because what we say does matter and does affect folks. In the case of my Christian friends in Pakistan and those living in other Muslim-dominated nations this morning, what we say here in the USA can bring wrath and violence down on them.

From my Christian friend in Pakistan: 

"dear brother plz tell ur govt not to make these kind of flim cuz of that we have to face so much persecution the money they spending on making flim by that they can help poor Christians , yesterday i face so much bad thing due to that they abuse JESUS ur in media u can convey message , we are not so much rich that we can sattle in other countries my self earn a very little money which only help to run wheel of house plz dont take me wrong GOD BLESS USA and his people but the side effect of these kind of flim come on poor people like me who is Christ beliver in pakistan" 

https://www.facebook.com/notes/versfelt-communications-group-pr-atlanta-tv-movie-epk-crews/a-reminder-that-free-speech-comes-with-responsibility/412035672190302

Copyright 2012, Porter Versfelt III

SHOULD WE WORRY ABOUT SOLAR STORMS?

Most of you are probably not aware that the biggest solar flare or CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) of solar particles since a least 2000 left the sun Tuesday night and is en route to Earthy as we speak.

The peak of this solar storm will be around 7AM ET Thursday 08 March 2012. Nothing to wish for.

What could happen? Massive loss of communications satellites, terrestrial cell phone service and electrical power outages. This isn't unprecedented. Look up the "Super Storm of 1859 when a similar CME event knocked out American telegraph service nationwide.

Geologic studies have found multiple past solar storms have hit the Earth before humans roamed it in the geologic record. It was not a good outcome for the life that existed then.

I'm not saying this event is a civilization-killer, but one must keep in mind that an X5 solar flare is nothing to cheer or look forward to, unless you are an astronomy nerd. :).

Also, satellite owners will literally put their birds into protection mode, turning their backs on the on-coming solar wind. Some services may shut down while the storm passes, others close shields over vulnerable electronics. There is no 100% protection for anything manmade in space. Also, the ISS astronauts will have to go into their radiation-proof safe room on the space station. The Earth's magnetic field should shield us from the radiation here on the Earth's surface.

What can you do about it? Nothing. Perhaps if you have very valuable shortwave or other electronic gear you might want to unplug all electrical, cable/sat TV, telephone landline cables and DSL/Internet cables connecting to the outside world to prevent damage.

On a positive note, if you live in the northern Hemisphere tonight, look up. You may have your only chance to see an Aurora (Northern Lights) in the mid-western/upper mid-western USA. Canada and Alaska? Definitely.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_SOLAR_STORM?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-03-07-13-10-48

You can keep closer tabs on the latest solar news at www.spaceweather.com

This web site is also a great place for solar watchers ... http://www.space.com/14818-solar-flare-magnetic-storm-satellites.html

From Wikipedia about past big solar storms:

"The most powerful flare ever observed was the first one to be observed, on September 1, 1859, and was reported by British astronomer Richard Carrington and independently by an observer named Richard Hodgson. The event is named the Solar storm of 1859, or the "Carrington event". The flare was visible to a naked-eye (in white light), and produced stunning auroras down to tropical latitudes such as Cuba or Hawaii, and set telegraph systems on fire.[11] The flare left a trace in Greenland ice in the form of nitrates and beryllium-10, which allow its strength to be measured today (New Scientist, 2005). Cliver & Salvgaard (2004) reconstructed the effects of this flare and compared with other events of the last 150 years. In their words: While the 1859 event has close rivals or superiors in each of the above categories of space weather activity, it is the only documented event of the last ∼150 years that appears at or near the top of all of the lists."

"In modern times, the largest solar flare measured with instruments occurred on November 4, 2003. This event saturated the GOES detectors, and because of this its classification is only approximate. Initially, extrapolating the GOES curve, it was pegged at X28.[12] Later analysis of the ionospheric effects suggested increasing this estimate to X45.[13] This event produced the first clear evidence of a new spectral component above 100 GHz.[14] Other large solar flares also occurred on April 2, 2001 (X20),[15] October 28, 2003 (X17.2 & X10),[16] September 7, 2005 (X17),[17] February 17, 2011 (X2).[18][19][20] and August 10, 2011 (X6.9).[21] In 1989, during solar cycle 22 two large flares occurred on March 6 (X15) (see: March 1989 geomagnetic storm) and August 16 (X20) causing disruptions in electric grids and computer systems.[22]"

See more about this at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859

See and particIpate in the on-going discussion of this solar storm here on my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/VCGTV/posts/383105948384231?notif_t=share_comment

More So-Called Blogosphere "Journalism" Hurts The Real Deal

With a juvenile, crude and amateurish headline like this one, writer Kyle Whitmire, Second Front" and WELD Birmingham (www.weldbham.com)can't be seen as any kind of credible source for news.

"Poll: Santorum comes from behind in Alabama three-way"

http://weldbham.com/secondfront/2012/02/24/poll-santorum-comes-from-behind-in-alabama-three-way/