When Toby Mac says “Pray for California” it’s not a slant against anyone else in the country that needs prayer. He is not endorsing Hollywood and saying he couldn’t care less about Appalachia. There is an ongoing natural disaster, people are hurting, several have died, and he asked his followers on social media to pray. I donated to relief efforts going to NC and know people that traveled there with church groups to deliver food and supplies. But now California is on fire and I can pray for them, too. It’s not just celebrities with million dollar homes; there are some hard working people that have lost everything. I have visited family in Modesto, California, and attended a Primitive Baptist Church the Sunday morning I was there. They sang old hymns, read the KJV, the men wore ties and coats and the women wore dresses. It was a lot like the Baptist churches I grew up in in the South. Even if, even if, the fires are an act of God’s judgement it is not our place to judge but to pray for those affected by tragedy, share the gospel, and offer food, clothing and shelter as we are able. The comment above reminds me of this:

I prefer apples to oranges.
Oh, I get it, you hate oranges. You didn’t even mention bananas or pineapples. DO SOME RESEARCH!

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We had some winter weather last week and might get some more next week. Much of the country has been and will be affected by the polar vortex; they are expecting snow in Louisiana. Just a friendly reminder that when you add milk, sugar and a little bit of vanilla flavoring to snow you get snow cream. Snow ice cream sounds silly as there is no such thing as that.

4X4 – On the tailgate of this pickup is binary code representing the ASCII code for the numbers/letters 4 X 4. It is kind of nerdy, most people will not get it but the fact it’s on a 4 wheel drive pickup truck should help. In the comment thread where I first saw this was the statement “Nerds shouldn’t be allowed to drive pickups.” Excuse me sir, I can be a nerd and a redneck. The two are not mutually exclusive.

People are asking why Red 3 and not also Red 40 but I think it’s a matter of time. There is nothing political here and I do not think this is government overreach. There are still a dozen artificial colors allowed in the US while Europe has banned all of them, a long time ago.

UNITED STATES OF BARBECUE

Not sure I agree entirely with this map but it’s close. Tennessee and North Carolina are rated at perfection while Georgia is just “good.” Their criticism is that our BBQ is too seasoned, spicy and smokey but that’s how I make it and how I like it, so thank you. Most (but not all) of Kansas City is in Missouri but I guess beyond KC you can’t find good barbecue in the state of Kansas, according to this map. What do y’all think?

Steampunk PC – I would worry about cooling but I’m sure this guy thought of that already. This is kind of how I feel about anyone still using a desktop computer, especially at home. Remember when the computer was revered and had its own furniture, sometimes its own room, in our homes?