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Today's Gift (6-24)

Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement.
~~~~~~~~~~~ Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes

I really hope that Bill is mistaken about the rarity of our ability to create a life that reflects to others our values, and at the same time satisfies our "souls," whatever and wherever they may be. Few questions in the history of mankind have generated as much discussion as have the questions about our souls. We seem generally convinced that we have one, but we cannot define it or provide the coordinates of its location.

Going back to early maritime days, in the first century AD or even earlier, ship captains spoke of the number of "souls on board." This reference was later adopted unofficially by the airline industry, and in times of distress, pilots reported two essential pieces of information: souls on board, and fuel supply. The word "souls" referred to living beings, including babies born along the way, but anyone who had died was not counted. This helped rescuers prepare, by knowing the number of souls they'd be expected to save.

Solomon, ever the wise one, said that "Your own soul is nourished when you are kind; it is destroyed when you are cruel." And Jesus had this warning for His disciples: "What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul?" Or put another way, what would you pay to get your soul back? (Matthew 16: 26).

It would seem that there is a basic theme of kindness running through all this. A generosity of spirit, of heartfelt compassion. Our souls look back with favor on those days when we practiced kindness, when we offered a smile instead of a scowl. I need to practice.

God bless you all on this Monday. Have a great week!
NT
Matthew 10:28

OT: The Great Plains Water Pipeline, to move water from MN/IA to the West TX/OK/KS .....has its' time come?

Every year the Missouri and Mississippi River systems flood their banks in MN and IA and MO, causing billions in damage and coating billions in trying to manage and control all that extra water as it moves into the Gulf.

And...every 5-10 years or so the arid regions of KS, CO, OK, NM and west Texas wither away under drought. Causing the same kinds of economic losses and opportunity costs. Along with all us boomtown cities waiting downstream along those 20 or so river systems, just dying to get some of that water.

Yes, I understand that pipelining some very small % of all that extra water up there across and up the Great plains would be VERY expensive. And an epic engineering challenge.
But wouldn't even being able to move something like a very miniscule % amount (like 1-2%) of all that water be able to deliver huge benefits towards both of these natural resources issues? And prevent annually recurring losses, as described above, to help justify the cost?

But it's been done before, and in that length and scale.

In Alaska, to move oil over 800 miles over several mountain ranges. Which is roughly the same distance that would be required to move water from Central MN to somewhere south of Lubbock and many discharge points and waiting reservoirs in between.

Hasn't the combination of time, circumstances, resource scarcity, and engineering capabilities all come along, in order to do this?

I'm not an engineer.
Nor a hydrologist.
Nor a Finance person for mega construction projects.

Just an IT and data guy, who wonders all the time, when he sees all these recurring stories about floods and droughts happening in parallel on the news. And wonders why this hasn't been done (or at least attempted) before?

The GPWP!!!
Let's build it!

Thanks in advance

OT: Home Renovation Tips/Tricks/Advice

Hey OB,
I just recently bought a home and am going to be doing quite a bit of work to it. It is a 2 story home with a concrete foundation. A/Cs for the upstairs and downstairs separate. 2.5 bath. We are going to be rearranging the walls upstairs and adding a floor above a living room that was open to the 2nd floor ceiling. We are also going to be redoing the kitchen. I am a first time home buyer and this is also the first time I'll be doing significant work on a home. I've had 5 different contractors come to take a look and are working on getting me a quote. 3 are architects and 2 are just contractors.

My question is this OB: What are some things that you are happy with in your home and what are some things you wish you could have changed? Do y'all have any advice on dealing with GCs? What are some features you have or wish you would have done?

I appreciate anything y'all are willing to share to help me out. I'm being as thorough as I can be and am trying to get as much advice/info from as many sources as I can.

"We got some good ones this weekend, just know that."

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Those were the words from Texas commitment Emaree Winston from the airport when asked if he had spent time recruiting players on his official visit.

Winston, who has flirted with a number of schools in recent months, said that he was shutting his commitment down after this weekend's official visit to Austin because he's locked in with his commitment to the Longhorns.

Juan Davis was his host.

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The Auburn commitment said that he has some hard thinking to do after his official visit this weekend, which he called "amazing".

He's still committed to Auburn, but he wants to take a return trip to Austin for a game later in the year and will make a final decision after all of the visits during the season take place.

Mentioned that his family loved the visit.
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