Can You Have a Monopoly Without Cash?
When I first saw this image, I was sure that these would be Monopoly Credit cards. I mean, isn’t that the way things are going? I was trying to figure out how you could have Monopoly with credit– since the whole point was not to go bankrupt.
Instead, it is a new concept that Hasboro is looking at– Monopoly Debit cards. A game with these cards would give up the cash money for the cards with the different colors and the creditor in the middle. I wouldn’t be surprised if the game pieces matched the card colors.
On the plus side, you wouldn’t have to worry about losing the cash or crinkling it, but I can see these things showing up in stores or having interesting ways of cheating– oops, I typed one too many zeros!
If they were smart, this thing could hook up to the internet for multiple family play– two at my house, two at yours, etc. You could walk into competitions with your own Monoply card. Purchase designer cards on ebay– as well as Monopoly credits. The list goes on and on.
But, before we chuck the cash and start using the cards, let’s go back to exactly when this game was invented, and it’s rules. You see, today, you don’t have the constraints that Monopoly had on it. Sure, you could mortgage your properties to get cash from the banks, but when you were out of money you were done. In real life, we’ve been given fast credit– the ability to spend without having something to back it up other than the promise that we’re good for it.
We as American’s don’t have the property, the cash reserve, or the nest egg that our parents and grandparents playing this game had– we’re banking on a promise. A promise of Social Security, pensions, and that we’ll always have an income– something we’re not guaranteed to have.
How are you spending your money? Are you spending it to win or are you spending it paying back interest to some other people? If you’re in the habit to carrying a balance on a credit card, don’t look back to how much you’ve paid in interest– because it might be enough to buy a new car or house! Instead, get out of that debt, pay things in cash, and get rid of the worry that comes with credit.
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My Dad Demonstrates Kindness
It was more than a year ago that my wife and I decided that in order to get out of the debt that we had accumulated and to accomadate our growing family we were going to have to sell the two cars (including my beloved 2 door Saturn SC2 with moon roof– the works) that we had and move to one mini-van. Between the insurance and the fact the we had a new one on the way, we needed the change, and we did not want to go any further in debt.I had (and still am) been in the habit of driving home at lunch time to be with my family. It’s something that I’m very blessed to have the ability to do since we live much closer than my father did when I was growing up. It allows me to be with my wife and children at all meals, and lets my wife have some adult communication in the middle of the day (and a hand with diapers, etc.)So, the problem came up about how I would get to work, and if I could continue to come home for lunch. My father offered to step in, and though my house is on the way to the place where we both work, it still takes him longer to get in to wor than it would if he didn’t have to pick me up. Sometimes he’s had to wait as my family is running late. He lets me take his car home at lunch time, and though he jokes about me leaving the radio on a certain station or using up his air conditioning (which is broken this summer!), he is gracious and willing to bend his schedule to mine.My dad shows kindness to me each and every day, and I’d like to use this first Weekend Kindness post to thank him for that.
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The purpose of the meme is to get people motivated to be kind to our fellow men and women and to encourage one another in that pursuit. We all If you participate, leave the link to your Weekend Kindness in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Weekend Kindness with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their Acts of Weekend Kindness. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
Do Women Need This Kind of Protection?
In case you’re ever in a situation where you have to go somewhere by yourself, ladies, Sheilas’ Wheels has a solution to calm even the most timid woman who doesn’t like driving in the dark. It’s called “Buddy on Demand.” An inflatible man is willing to ride in the car next to you in the hopes that people will think that there’s a real man in the car next to you so you don’t have to be afraid.
(BTW, I’m having a hard time writing this with a straight face.)
It’s interesting the effect the other person in your life has on you. For the man, a woman gives him the decoration in life. She’s an anchor, a solace, a port in the storm. She gives his life meaning and order. She cares for him like the rest of the world doesn’t (except maybe his mom) and she compliments him.
For the woman, the man offers protection and provision. This is regardless of whether the woman works (since even high income earning women want a man who makes more than them). He provides a sense of stability and safety.
They can both trust in each other for meeting each other’s needs. It would seem to me that if we had more couples that would fill the needs in the others lives (including being there for that dark road trip– or moving!), then we wouldn’t have Mr. “Buddy on Demand.”
Parents Should Be Involved
The graphic at left (amazingly provided by NARAL Pro-Choice America) shows to what level of consent a woman must have before an abortion can take place. This is a key graphic in the current bills that were passed in both House and Senate and in their reconciliation.
You see, there are multiple states that border each other where the burden of consent is less that the other. For some people that want to keep the parents out of the equation about whether an abortion should be done, it seems pretty simple to get across a border, have the procedure and return.
Parents should be involved in this decision, but I’m not convinced that this alone would reduce the number of abortions. That is probably one of the reasons that this passed, for it is not purely an abortion bill– it’s more about states and parents rights.
What we’ve seen over the past years is an erosion of parental authority in a child’s life. I can remember as a child being told (whether fact or not, I would have to research to be sure) how in Soviet Russia the government basically owned the children and you could have your children taken away if you spanked them or if you tried to teach them the Christian religion. It was part of us explaining why they were wrong.
In America, however, it is quickly turning that way. Parents can have their children taken away because of what the state deems poor education. Parents can be taken to court over whether or not a child will have a specific medication. And the Senate Democrats were interested in making it easier for a woman to have an abortion without the parent even knowing there was a pregnancy.
Now, granted, the woman’s parents may encourage her that way as well. I believe that abortion is murder, so I think it’s the wrong counsel– but at least the counsel was there. The parents may also encourage the woman to give the child up for adoption or look into some other method where the child can still live.
The family was the unit set up by God to exist for the purpose of training the next generation– not the government. The family was supposed to educate the children. The family was supposed to care for and support them, and they in return. What has happened is that as the government has continued to encroach on areas of our life that other institutions (family, church, etc.) were responsible for, we’ve let them, and we have given up the best tools and our freedoms in the process.
WARNING: Bikinis Might Not Protect You From the Sun!
Sometimes the news just cracks me right up. Take for instance the latest article on skin health and a system to protect you from overexposure– a new bikini with a UV monitor built in the belt to warn you when you’ve been in the sun too long.
I’m almost at a loss for where to go here! For starters, I find the bikini and wandering around in one’s underwear to pretty much be equivalent. The weird thing is that while one would certainly not be proper, the other is encouraged.
I can almost see someone wearing such an outfit in a private place or with a husband only around (kind of like where you would wear unmentionables), but instead people parade in public places wearing next to nothing and then wonder why they are gawked at.
This has been something of a puzzle to me– why do we have to have our women dress in underthings and the men wear loose baggy clothing? Why aren’t we equally protective of both the ladies and the men, and desiring that both are modest? Why do people that proclaim modesty in church turn around and have an immodest beach attire?
At the college I attended they had separate times for women and men to use the pool. There was also the ongoing joke of some group of people going out on beach evangelism– something that definitely would have been a shock to the men’s systems after only seeing women in skirts and dresses.
We have come a long way from Adam and Eve and their shame at their nakedness to now having clothing that alerts you to too much Sun exposure because you want to bear as much as you can legally.
Baby Dumping: Dead or Alive
Have you heard the sad story of two children discussing the infamous poster of a trash can filled with aborted babies? The children thought they were dolls. After all, who would throw away a real baby? Right? Worse yet, would those babies end up at the dump? There’s rats at the dump!
A curious alternative to abortion has been emerging in America since 1999. Legalized baby abandonment. In 37 states, women can anonymously leave their babies at “safe havens” such as fire stations and hospitals. By doing this, the mothers sever their rights in exchange for protection from prosecution for abandonment or child cruelty. With teen mothers stuffing their newborns in garbage cans what else is a government to do? Maybe advocating abstinence in sex ed class? Hey, I’m pro-choice: Abstinence or promiscuity. After all, we’re talking babies here, not kittens or puppies.
Oh, I forgot. Kids nowadays need to know their options. They need to be informed so they can make responsible decisions. Life and death decisions.
And let’s not lay all the blame at the portals of sex-ed and teens wanting a quick fix. Adults—mentally imbalanced or otherwise—are more and more being convicted of heinous crimes against their children. This is just one more attack on the sanctity of life by the trump card of pro-choice. Dump your child and nothing will happen.
Despite my flippancy, my heart does go out to these mothers who, for whatever reason, feel they have no other choice.
And may God bless all those little Moses’ in their baskets.
Eight-Year-Old Girl Raped in Broad Daylight
As parents, there are many things that we are concerned about that our kids will not know until they are parents. They won’t realize the lengths we go to protect them from harm’s way, and when their out of our care how much we think about their saftey and well being.
There’s a lot parents try to do to keep their children safe. They bolt doors closed, hold hands while crossing the street, instruct children not to talk to strangers, but in the end it’s up to God to protect them.
This man, Henry Segaroun, is one of every parent’s nightmare. A eight-year-old girl was leaving a park last Wednesday with her seven-year-old brother when she was grabbed from behind, forced to the ground and raped by (witnesses say) this man. Their mother had left them alone only temporarily while she returned home to turn off a kitchen stove.
It’s hard, because we cannot watch our kids every minute of every day. Something can happen in a split second that we cannot control. As parents, it should keep us on our knees in prayer for those things which we know are out of our hands.
Thirteen Things You Learn at VBS
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Thirteen Things MInTheGap learned at VBS 1. Boys are more scared of being kissed than girls.
2. It’s hard to get children to remember to bring their Bibles.
3. When mixing concrete, it’s hard to figure out just how much dry mix you need.
4. It’s hard to have two points to a single lesson.
5. Rack, Shack and Benny may be more popular than Shadrach, Meshack and Abendego
6. Children don’t remember Hannaiah, Misheal and Azariah quite like the other names.
7. One cookie is not enough of a snack– even if there is juice.
8. The playground may say that it’s rated for 5 years old and up, but that doesn’t stop the two year old from climbing the ladders.
9. Dads make for great lifts up to higher playground platforms.
10. Puppets are nice and all, but it’s better if they have a voice instead of just opening their mouths.
11. Don’t let the computer geek run the projector — either he forgets to change the slide or, in the process of trying to make the display work better, shuts off the screen when you’re trying to teach a new song.
12. Children like it when you put things up on the screen behind the presenter that make them laugh.
13. It’s a lot of work, but it is worth it.
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