NAC Bonanza fly away weekend 2008

Comments on the Bonanza/Baron fly in from 1 to 4 May 2008

P.K. Odendaal

NAC invited us and many others for a weekend to Sutherland and Kuruman.

At first I thought they have ran out of ideas to take us to the most deserted parts of South Africa and even Africa, but there was the opportunity to visit the observatory and notably the SALT (South African Large Telescope) and learn something of the stars - one of my hobbies (I have an observatory with a 350mm Meade telescope in Witbank), and then to play golf at Kathu - also one of my hobbies (of an even lesser amateur quality) - so my son and I mounted our mount and set off for Sutherland (from George where we played golf at the time).

A Dialogue between Moses and Aristotle - Part 1

A dialogue between Moses (1392 - 1272 B.C.) and Aristotle (384 - 322 B.C.) - from Transcripts of their debate.

Written by P.K.Odendaal - 16 Feb. 2011

Note by the Scribe (writer) : This piece was compiled with the latest facts and interpretations of History and the Bible. It is, after all, an unfinished work as the dialogue will only be conducted after the rapture when everyone will know everything, but it is also conceivable that it has already taken place, because there is no clear scripture that says one first has to go to a place of detention before inheriting your prize - be that eternal life or eternal damnation.

In any case, chances are that this would be a very accurate transcription of that dialogue. Part of this is of course conjecture.

The intent of this dialogue is to bring the false theories, false statements, frailties and errors of humans to light, whilst confirming the events of the Bible which has stayed true for 3 300 years.

The reason that I have chosen these two characters is that both are the best mankind had to offer in these fields - Moses as an exemplary example of a man of God and Aristotle as an exemplary example of human excellence and human failure.

Although I have tried to interpret the Bible and History as accurately as  possible, I have had to use my poetic license to fill in the gaps, but I have not stretched that license unduly. If I have unduly criticised someone, due to my ignorance, I beg their pardon beforehand. I do, however, give them the benefit of the doubt as I am writing this with hindsight which is 20/20 vision, whilst they did this in uncertain times, in doubt, with partial knowledge, in the heat of the moment and some under pressure and duress.

 

PART 1

Introduction and background.

Moses:    Hi there Ari, and how are you today ?

A Dialogue between Sir Thomas More and William Tyndale

A dialogue between Sir Thomas More (A man for all Seasons 1478 - 1535 A.D.) and William Tyndale (1494 - 1536 A.D.) - from Transcripts of their debate.

Written by P.K.Odendaal - February 2011

Foreword for all my Dialogues

Note by the Scribe (writer) : This piece was compiled with the latest facts and interpretations of History and the Bible. It is, after all, an unfinished work as the dialogue will only be conducted after the rapture when everyone will know everything, but it is also conceivable that it has already taken place, because there is no clear scripture that says one first has to go to a place of detention before inheriting your prize - be that eternal life or eternal damnation.

In any case, chances are that this would be a very accurate transcription of that dialogue. Part of this is of course speculation.

The intent of this dialogue is to bring the false theories, false statements, frailties and errors of humans to light, whilst confirming the events of the Bible which has stayed true for 3 300 years.

The reason that I have chosen these two characters is that both are the best mankind had to offer in these fields - Sir Thomas More as a man for all seasons and his triumph and failure as a man of the Church and William Tyndale as an exemplary example of a Man of God and of human excellence, resilience and tenacity.

My Training at Flight Safety International in 2008

http://www.prohousing.co.za/blogspot/flight safety report by pko.pdf

Flying a Husky to the Arctic Circle - Part 2

http://www.prohousing.co.za/blogspot/flying a husky to the arctic circle part 2.pdf

Flying a Husky to the Arctic Circle - Part 1

http://www.prohousing.co.za/blogspot/flying a husky to the arctic circle part 1.pdf

Our Botswana Air Tour 2008

http://www.prohousing.co.za/blogspot/namibia and botswana air tour part 2.pdf

Our Namibian Air Tour 2008

http://www.prohousing.co.za/blogspot/namibia and botswana air tour part 1.pdf

I am not responsible for ...

I am not responsible for ...

P.K.Odendaal - 9 September 2011

I was born without any responsibility, so how can you say that I am responsible for this trouble we are in.

I do not even think that I know what responsibility means - and when was this responsibility passed onto me? Whatever happened - it is not my fault. Someone else must have made a mistake. It has got nothing to do with me. I did not even know that it happened.

And that is the reason for the state we are in !!! Nobody accepts any responsibility, nobody is guilty, nobody makes a commitment, nobody cares - and we are all affected by this. So how come nobody knew or tried to prevent it or did something?

This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job.
Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done

And this is also the history of the world since man first set his foot on this planet. There is the classical story from the Bible about Adam and Eve :

Gen 3:11  And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? v:12  And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. v:13  And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

I wonder what excuse the serpent would have made, had he been given the opportunity to speak.

And then on the other hand - the world has had so many leaders, statesmen, writes, scientists, philosophers and other gurus who knew what would happen and who warned mankind about it, but Nobody heeded them.

We all have this wonderfully successful ploy. As soon as things come our side, we think of the most ingenious excuses. We might know that we were the direct cause of this problem, but we will never in a million years admit it.

And still - it is so easy to acknowledge guilt and fix it. All it takes is a little humility - but who has got it ?

Let's hear Mac Davis sing it:

Oh Lord it's hard to be humble
when you're perfect in every way.
I can't wait to look in the mirror
'cos I get better looking each day

to know me is to love me
I must be a hell of a man.
O Lord it's hard to be humble
but I'm doing the best that I can.

I used to have a girlfriend
but I guess she just could'n't complete
with all of these lovestarved women
who keep clamouring at my feet.

Well I probably find me another
but I guess they're all in awe of me
who cares I never get lonesome
cause I treasure my own company.

I guess you can say I'm a loner
a cowboy outlaw tough and proud
Well, I could have lots of friends if I wanted
but then I wouldn't stand out from the drowd

some folks say that I'm 'egotistical'
well I don't even know what that means
I guess it has something to do with the
way that I fill out my skintight blue jeans.

Even better - listen to it here :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-07_2DWfEmQ

To be continued ..... in a humbler moment ... should that ever happen.

My travel blog 2011-2

Travelblog 2011-2

Humanism is for the birds - by P.K.Odendaal - 28 July 2011.

Continuing my travelogue in Canada and the USA - July 2011. See Travelblog 2011-1 for first part.

I slept over at Alpena in Michigan - a town on the western shore of Lake Huron. At one of the many ports along this shore I noticed some black objects in the water forming a row. A person standing on the shore told me that it was buoys holding up the fishing nets, so I told him that they would never get away with that in South Africa. Lake Huron is so wide here that you cannot see the other shore - it looks like a sea and has an international boundary running in the middle of this sea. One can easily take a motorboat and travel from somewhere on the shore of Michigan to somewhere on the shore of Ontario. As the customs officials will not like this, I wonder how they are going to stop it other than getting some buoys to float them at the point where the imaginary boundary cuts through the water. I bet they will not have much time or inclination to search all my bags as they did at Port Huron - hanging in the water like that.